iv. 70-73), and immediately afterwards marched through Thessaly at the

head of 700 helots and 1000 Peloponnesian mercenaries to join the Macedonian king Perdiccas. Refusing to be made a tool for the furtherance of Perdiccas's ambitions, Brasidas set about the accomplishment of his main object, and, partly by the rapidity and boldness of his movements, partly by his personal charm and the moderation of his demands, succeeded during the course of the winter in winning over the important cities of Acanthus, Stagirus, Amphipolis and Torone as well as a number of minor towns. An attack on Eion was foiled by the arrival of Thucydides, the historian, at the head of an Athenian squadron. In the spring of 423 a truce was concluded between Athens and Sparta, but its operation was at once imperilled by Brasidas's refusal to give up Scione, which, the Athenian partisans declared, revolted two days after the truce began, and by his occupation of Mende shortly afterwards. An Athenian fleet under Nicias and Nicostratus recovered Mende and blockaded Scione, which fell two years later (421 B.C.). Meanwhile Brasidas joined Perdiccas in a campaign against Arrhabaeus, king of the Lyncesti, who was severely defeated. On the approach of a body of Illyrians, who, though summoned by Perdiccas, unexpectedly declared for Arrhabaeus, the Macedonians fled, and Brasidas's force was rescued from a critical position only by his coolness and ability. This brought to a head the quarrel between Brasidas and Perdiccas, who promptly concluded a treaty with Athens, of which some fragments have survived (_I.G._ i. 42).

In April 422 the truce with Sparta expired, and in the same summer Cleon was despatched to Thrace, where he stormed Torone and Galepsus and prepared for an attack on Amphipolis. But a carelessly conducted reconnaissance gave Brasidas the opportunity for a vigorous and successful sally. The Athenian army was routed with a loss of 600 men and Cleon was slain. On the Spartan side only seven men are said to have fallen, but amongst them was Brasidas. He was buried at Amphipolis with impressive pomp, and for the future was regarded as the founder ([Greek: oikistaes]) of the city and honoured with yearly games and sacrifices (Thuc. iv. 78-v. 11). At Sparta a cenotaph was erected in his memory near the tombs of Pausanias and Leonidas, and yearly speeches were made and games celebrated in their honour, in which only Spartiates could compete (Paus. in. 14).

Brasidas united in himself the personal courage characteristic of Sparta with those virtues in which the typical Spartan was most signally lacking. He was quick in forming his plans and carried them out without delay or hesitation. With an oratorical power rare amongst the Lacedaemonians he combined a conciliatory manner which everywhere won friends for himself and for Sparta (Thuc. iv. 81).

See in particular Thucydides, ii.-v.; what Diodorus xii. adds is mainly oratorical elaboration or pure invention. A fuller account will be found in the histories of Greece (e.g. those of Grote, Beloch, Busolt, Meyer) and in G. Schimmelpfeng, _De Brasidae Spartani rebus gestis atque ingenio_ (Marburg, 1857).

BRASS, a river, town and district of southern Nigeria, British West Africa. The Brass river is one of the deltaic branches of the Niger, lying east of the Rio Nun or main channel of the river. From the point of divergence from the main stream to the sea the Brass has a course of about 100 m., its mouth being in 6 deg. 20' E., 4 deg. 35' N. Brass town is a flourishing trading settlement at the mouth of the river. It is the headquarters of a district commissioner and the seat of a native court. Its most conspicuous building is a fine church, the gift of a native chief. The capital of the Brass tribes is Nimbe, 30 m. up river.

The Brass river, called by its Portuguese discoverers the Rio Bento, is said to have received its English name from the brass rods and other brass utensils imported by the early traders in exchange for palm-oil and slaves. The Brass natives, of the pure negro type, were noted for their savage character. In 1856 their chiefs concluded a treaty with Great Britain agreeing to give up the slave-trade in exchange for a duty on the palm-oil exported. Finding their profitable business as middlemen between the up-river producer and the exporter threatened by the appearance of European traders, they made ineffective complaints to the British authorities. The establishment of the Royal Niger Company led to further loss of trade, and on the 29th of January 1895 the natives attacked and sacked the company's station at Akassa on the Rio Nun, over forty prisoners being killed and eaten as a sacrifice to the fetish gods. In the following month a punitive expedition partially destroyed Nimbe, and a heavy fine was paid by the Brass chiefs. Since then the country has settled down under British administration. The trade regulations of which complaint had been made were removed in 1900 on the establishment of the protectorate of Southern Nigeria (see NIGERIA).

Valuable information concerning the country and people will be found in the _Report by Sir John Kirk on the Disturbances at Brass (Africa_, No. 3, 1896).

BRASS (O. Eng. _braes_), an alloy consisting mainly if not exclusively of copper and zinc; in its older use the term was applied rather to alloys of copper and tin, now known as bronze (q.v.)Thus the brass of the Bible was probably bronze, and so also was much of the brass of later times, until the distinction between zinc and tin became clearly recognized. The Latin word _aes_ signifies either pure copper or bronze, not brass, but the Romans comprehended a brass compound of copper and zinc under the term _orichalcum_ or _aurichalcum_, into which Pliny states that copper was converted by the aid of cadmia (a mineral of zinc).

In England there is good evidence of the manufacture of brass with zinc at the end of the 16th century, for Queen Elizabeth by patent granted to William Humfrey and Christopher Schutz the exclusive right of working calamine and making brass. This right subsequently devolved upon a body called the "Governors, Assistants and Societies of the City of London of and for the Mineral and Battery Works," which continued to exercise its functions down to the year 1710.

When a small percentage of zinc is present, the colour of brass is reddish, as in _tombac_ or red brass, which contains about 10%. With about 20% the colour becomes more yellow, and a series of metals is obtained which simulate gold more or less closely; such are _Dutch metal, Mannheim gold, similar_ and _pinchbeck_, the last deriving its name from a London clockmaker, Christopher Pinchbeck, who invented it in 1732. Ordinary brass contains about 30% of zinc, and when 40% is present, as in _Muntz, yellow_ or _patent_ metal (invented by G.F. Muntz in 1832), the colour becomes a full yellow. When the proportion of zinc is largely increased the colour becomes silver-white and finally grey. The limit of elasticity increases with the percentage of zinc, as also does the amount of elongation before fracture, the maximum occurring with 30%. The tenacity increases with the proportion of zinc up to a maximum with 45%; then it decreases rapidly, and with 50% the metals are fragile. By varying the proportion between 30 and 43% a series of alloys may be prepared presenting very varied properties. The most malleable of the series has an elongation of about 60%, with a tensile strength of 17.5 tons per sq. in. Increase in the proportion of zinc gives higher tensile strength, accompanied, however, by a smaller percentage of elongation and a materially increased tendency to produce unsound castings. The quality of copper-zinc alloys is improved by the addition of a small quantity of iron, a fact of which advantage is taken in the production of Aich's metal and delta metal. Of the latter there are several varieties, modified in composition to suit different purposes. Some of them possess high tensile strength and ductility. They are remarkably resistant to corrosion by sea-water, and are well suited for screw-propellers as well as for pump-plungers, pistons and glands. Heated to a dull red delta metal becomes malleable and can be worked under the hammer, press or stamps. By such treatment an ultimate tensile strength of 30 tons per sq. in. may be obtained, with an elongation of 32% in 2 in. and a contraction of area of 30%.

In the arts brass is a most important and widely used alloy. As compared with copper its superior hardness makes it wear better, while being more fusible it can be cast with greater facility. It is readily drawn into fine wire, and formed into rolled sheets and rods which are machined into a huge number of useful and ornamental articles. It is susceptible of a fine polish, but tarnishes with exposure to the air; the brilliancy of the surface can, however, be preserved if the metal is thoroughly cleansed by "dipping" in nitric acid and "lacquered" with a coating of varnish consisting of seed-lac dissolved in spirit.

BRASSES, MONUMENTAL, a species of engraved sepulchral memorials which in the early part of the 13th century began to take the place of tombs and effigies carved in stone. Made of hard _latten_ or sheet brass, let into the pavement, and thus forming no obstruction in the space required for the services of the church, they speedily came into general use, and continued to be a favourite style of sepulchral memorial for three centuries. Besides their great value as historical monuments, they are interesting as authentic contemporary evidence of the varieties of armour and costume, or the peculiarities of palaeography and heraldic designs, and they are often the only authoritative records of the intricate details of family history. Although the intrinsic value of the metal has unfortunately contributed to the wholesale spoliation of these interesting monuments, they are still found in remarkable profusion in England, and they were at one time equally common in France, Germany and the Low Countries. In France, however, those that survived the troubles of the 16th century were totally swept away during the reign of terror, and almost the only evidence of their existence is now supplied by the collection of drawings bequeathed by Gough to the Bodleian library. The fine memorials of the royal house of Saxony in the cathedrals of Meissen and Freiberg are the most artistic and striking brasses in Germany. Among the 13th-century examples existing in German churches are the full-length memorials of Yso von Welpe, bishop of Verden (1231), and of Bernard, bishop of Paderborn (1340). Many fine Flemish specimens exist in Belgium, especially at Bruges. Only two or three examples, and these of late date, are known in Scotland, among which are the memorials of Alexander Cockburn (1564) at Ormiston; of the regent Murray (1569) in the collegiate church of St Giles, Edinburgh; and of the Minto family (1605) in the south aisle of the nave of Glasgow cathedral. England is the only country which now possesses an extensive series of these interesting memorials, of which it is calculated that there may be about 4000 still remaining in the various churches. They are most abundant in the eastern counties, and this fact has been frequently adduced in support of the opinion that they were of Flemish manufacture. But in the days when sepulchral brasses were most in fashion the eastern counties of England were full of commercial activity and wealth, and nowhere do the engraved memorials of civilians and prosperous merchants more abound than in the churches of Ipswich, Norwich, Lynn and Lincoln. Flemish brasses do occur in England, but they were never numerous, and they are readily distinguished from those of native workmanship. The Flemish examples have the figures engraved in the centre of a large plate, the background filled in with diapered or scroll work, and the inscription placed round the edge of the plate. The English examples have the figures cut out to the outline and inserted in corresponding cavities in the slab, the darker colour of the stone serving as a background. This is not an invariable distinction, however, as "figure-brasses" of Flemish origin are found both at Bruges and in England. But the character of the engraving is constant, the Flemish work being more florid in design, the lines shallower, and the broad lines cut with a chisel-pointed tool instead of the lozenge-shaped burin. The brass of Robert Hallum, bishop of Salisbury, the envoy of Henry V. to the council of Constance, who died and was interred there in 1416, precisely resembles the brasses of England in the peculiarities which distinguish them from continental specimens. Scarcely any of the brasses which now exist in England can be confidently referred to the first half of the 13th century, though several undoubted examples of this period are on record. The full-sized brass of Sir John d'Aubernon at Stoke d'Abernon in Surrey (c. 1277) has the decorations of the shield filled in with a species of enamel. Other examples of this occur, and the probability is, that, in most cases, the lines of the engraving were filled with colouring-matter, though brass would scarcely bear the heat requisite to fuse the ordinary enamels. A well-known 13th-century example is that of Sir Roger de Trumpington (c. 1290), who accompanied Prince Edward in his expedition to Palestine and is represented cross-legged. About half a dozen instances of this peculiarity are known. The 14th-century brasses are much more numerous, and present a remarkable variety in their details. The finest specimen is that of Nicholas Lord Burnell (1315) in the church of Acton Burnell, Shropshire. In the 15th century the design and execution of monumental brasses had attained their highest excellence. The beautiful brass of Thomas Beauchamp, earl of Warwick (d. 1401), and his wife Margaret, which formerly covered the tomb in St Mary's church, Warwick, is a striking example. One of the best specimens of plate armour is that of Sir Robert Stantoun (1458) in Castle Donnington church, Leicestershire, and one of the finest existing brasses of ecclesiastics is that of Abbot de la Mare of St Albans. It is only in the 16th century that the engraved representations become portraits. Previous to that period the features were invariably represented conventionally, though sometimes personal peculiarities were given. A large number of brasses in England are _palimpsests_, the back of an ancient brass having been engraved for the more recent memorial. Thus a brass commemorative of Margaret Bulstrode (1540) at Hedgerley, on being removed from its position, was discovered to have been previously the memorial of Thomas Totyngton, abbot of St Edmunds, Bury (1312). The abbey was only surrendered to Henry VIII. in 1539, so that before the year was out the work of spoliation had begun, and the abbot's brass had been removed and re-engraved to Margaret Bulstrode. In explanation of the frequency with which ancient brasses have thus been stolen and re-erected after being engraved on the reverse, as at Berkhampstead, it may be remarked that all the sheet brass used in England previous to the establishment of a manufactory at Esher by a German in 1649, had to be imported from the continent.

AUTHORITIES.--(1) General: _Manual for the Study of Monumental Brasses_ (Oxford, 1848); Boutell's _Monumental Brasses of England_, engravings on wood, folio (London, 1849); _Manual of Monumental Brasses_, by H. Haines (2 vols. 8vo, 1861); Waller's _Series of Monumental Brasses in England_ (London and Oxford, Parkers, 1863); _Monumental Brasses_, by H.W. Macklin (8vo, 1890); _The Brasses of England_, by H.W. Macklin (8vo, London, 1907). (2) English Counties: Cotman's _Engravings of the most Remarkable of the Sepulchral Brasses of Norfolk_ (4to, London, 1813-1816); and second edition, with plates and notes by Meyrick, Albert Way and Sir Harris Nicholas (2 vols. folio, London, 1839); _Illustrations of Monumental Brasses in Cambridge_ (4to, Camden Society, 1846); _Monumental Brasses of Northamptonshire_, by F. Hudson (folio, 1853); _The Monumental Brasses of Wiltshire_, by G. Kite (8vo, London, 1860); _Architectural and Historical Notes of the Churches of Cambridgeshire_, by A.C. Hill (8vo, 1880); _Monumental Brasses of Cornwall_, by E.H.W. Dunken (4to, London, 1882); _Monumental Brasses of Worcestershire and Herefordshire_, ed. by C.T. Davis (1884); _Kentish Brasses_, by W.D. Belcher (4to, London, 1888); _List of Monumental Brasses in the County of Norfolk_, by the Rev. E. Farrer (Norwich, 1890); _The Monumental Brasses of Lancashire and Cheshire_, by James Thornby (8vo, Hull, 1893); _Monumental Brasses in the Bedfordshire Churches_, by Grace Isherwood (8vo, London, 1906), a large collection of rubbings of special interest and value. (3) Foreign: _Monumental Brasses and Incised Slabs in Belgium_ (8vo, 1849); _Books of Facsimiles of Monumental Brasses of the Continent of Europe_, folio (1884), by the Rev. W.F. Greeny.

BRASSEUR DE BOURBOURG, CHARLES ETIENNE (1814-1874), Belgian ethnographer, was born at Bourbourg, near Dunkirk, on the 8th of September 1814. He entered the Roman Catholic priesthood, was professor of ecclesiastical history in the Quebec seminary in 1845, vicar-general at Boston in 1846, and from 1848 to 1863 travelled as a missionary, chiefly in Mexico and Central America. He gave great attention to Mexican antiquities, published in 1857-1859 a history of Aztec civilization, and from 1861 to 1864 edited a collection of documents in the indigenous languages. In 1863 he announced the discovery of a key to Mexican hieroglyphic writing, but its value is very questionable. In 1864 he was archaeologist to the French military expedition in Mexico, and his _Monuments anciens du Mexique_ was published by the French Government in 1866. Perhaps his greatest service was the publication in 1861 of a French translation of the _Popol Vuh_, a sacred book of the Quiche Indians, together with a Quiche grammar, and an essay on Central American mythology. In 1871 he brought out his _Bibliotheque Mexico-Guatemalienne_, and in 1869-1870 gave the principles of his decipherment of Indian picture-writing in his _Manuscrit Troano, etudes sur le systeme graphique et la langue des Mayas._ He died at Nice on the 8th of January 1874. His chief merit is his diligent collection of materials; his interpretations are generally fanciful.

BRASSEY, THOMAS (1805-1870), English railway contractor, was born at Buerton, near Chester, on the 7th of November 1805. His father, besides cultivating land of his own, held a large farm of the marquess of Westminster; his ancestors, according to family tradition, having been settled for several centuries at Bulkeley, near Malpas, Cheshire, before they went to Buerton in 1663. Thomas Brassey received an ordinary commercial education at a Chester school. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to a surveyor, and on the completion of his term became the partner of his master, eventually assuming the sole management of the business. In the local surveys to which he devoted his attention during his early years he acquired the knowledge and practical experience which were the necessary foundation of his great reputation. His first engagement as railway contractor was entered upon in 1835, when he undertook the execution of a portion of the Grand Junction railway, on the invitation of the distinguished engineer Joseph Locke, who soon afterwards entrusted him with the completion of the London and Southampton railway, a task which involved contracts to the amount of L4,000,000 sterling and the employment of a body of 3000 men. At the same time he was engaged on portions of several other lines in the north of England and in Scotland. In conjunction with his partner, W. Mackenzie, Brassey undertook, in 1840, the construction of the railway from Paris to Rouen, of which Locke was engineer. He subsequently carried out the extension of the same line. A few years later he was engaged with his partner on five other French lines, and on his own account on the same number of lines in England, Wales and Scotland. Brassey was now in control of an industrial army of 75,000 men, and the capital involved in his various contracts amounted to some L36,000,000. But his energy and capacity were equal to still larger tasks. He undertook in 1851 other works in England and Scotland; and in the following year he engaged in the construction of railways in Holland, Prussia, Spain and Italy. One of his largest undertakings was the Grand Trunk railway of Canada, 1100 m. in length, with its fine bridge over the St Lawrence. In this work he was associated with Sir M. Peto and E.L. Betts. In the following years divisions of his industrial army were found in almost every country in Europe, in India, in Australia and in South America. Besides actual railway works, he originated and maintained a great number of subordinate assistant establishments, coal and iron works, dockyards, &c., the direction of which alone would be sufficient to strain the energies of an ordinary mind. His profits were, of course, enormous, but prosperity did not intoxicate him; and when heavy losses came, as sometimes they did, he took them bravely and quietly. Among the greatest of his pecuniary disasters were those caused by the fall of the great Barentin viaduct on the Rouen and Havre railway, and by the failure of Peto and Betts. Brassey was one of the first to aim at improving the relations between engineers and contractors, by setting himself against the corrupt practices which were common. He resolutely resisted the "scamping" of work and the bribery of inspectors, and what he called the "smothering of the engineer"; and he did much in this way to bring about a better state of things. Large-hearted and generous to a rare degree, modest and simple in his taste and manners, he was conscious of his power as a leader in his calling, and knew how to use it wisely and for noble ends. Honours came to him unsought. The cross of the Legion of Honour was conferred on him. From Victor Emmanuel he received the cross of the Order of St Maurice and St Lazarus; and from the emperor of Austria the decoration of the Iron Crown, which it is said had not before been given to a foreigner. He died at St Leonards on the 8th of December 1870. His life and labours are commemorated in a volume by Sir Arthur Helps (1872).

He left three sons, of whom the eldest, THOMAS (b. 1836), was knighted and afterwards (1886) created BARON BRASSEY. Lord Brassey, who was educated at Rugby and Oxford, entered parliament as a liberal in 1865, and devoted himself largely to naval affairs. He was civil lord of the admiralty (1880-1883), and secretary to the admiralty (1883-1885); and both before and after his elevation to the peerage did important work on naval and statistical inquiries for the government. In 1893-1805 he was president of the Institution of Naval Architects. In 1894 he was a lord-in-waiting, and from 1895 to 1900 was governor of Victoria. In 1908 he was appointed lord warden of the Cinque Ports. His voyages in his yacht "Sunbeam" from 1876 onwards, with his first wife (d. 1887), who published an interesting book on the subject, took him all over the world. Lord Brassey married a second time in 1890. Among other publications, his inauguration of the _Naval Annual_ (1886 onwards), and his volumes on _The British Navy_, are the most important. His eldest son Thomas, who edited the _Naval Annual_ (1890-1904), and unsuccessfully contested several parliamentary constituencies, was born in 1862.

BRASSO (Ger. _Kronstadt_; Rumanian, _Brasov_), a town of Hungary, in Transylvania, 206 m. S.E. of Kolozsvar by rail. Pop. (1900) 34,511. It is the capital of the comitat (county) of the same name, also known as Burzenland, a fertile country inhabited by an industrious population of Germans, Magyars and Rumanians. Brasso is beautifully situated on the slopes of the Transylvanian Alps, in a narrow valley, shut in by mountains, and presenting only one opening on the north-west towards the Burzen plain. The town is entirely dominated by the Zinne of Kapellenberg, a mountain rising 1276 ft. above the town (total altitude 3153 ft.), from which a beautiful view is obtained of the lofty mountains around and of the carefully cultivated plain of the Burzenland, dotted with tastefully built and well-kept villages. On the summit of the mountain is one of the numerous monuments erected in 1896 in different parts of the country to commemorate the thousandth anniversary of the foundation of the Hungarian state. It is known as Arpad's Monument, and consists of a Doric column erected on a circular pedestal, which supports the bronze figure of a warrior from the time of Arpad.

Brasso consists of the inner town, which is the commercial centre, and the suburbs of Blumenau, Altstadt and Obere Vorstadt or Bolgarszeg, inhabited respectively by Germans, Magyars and Rumanians. To the east of the inner town rises the Schlossberg, crowned by the citadel, which was erected in 1553, and constitutes the principal remaining fragment of the old fortifications with which Brasso was encircled. The most interesting building in the town is the Protestant church, popularly called the Black Church, owing to its smoke-stained walls, caused by the great fire of 1689. This church, the finest in Transylvania, is a Gothic edifice with traces of Romanesque influence, and was built in 1385-1425. In the square in front of it is the statue of Johannes Honterus (1498-1549), "the apostle of Transylvania," who was born in Brasso, and established here the first printing-press in Transylvania. In the principal square of the inner town stands the town hall, built in 1420 and restored in the 18th century, with a tower 190 ft. high. Brasso is the most important commercial and manufacturing town of Transylvania. Lying near the frontier of Rumania, with easy access through the Tomos pass, it developed from the earliest time an active trade with that country and with the whole of the Balkan states. Its chief industries are iron and copper works, wool-spinning, turkey-red dyeing, leather goods, paper, cement and petroleum refineries. The timber industry in all its branches, with a speciality for the manufacture of the wooden bottles largely used by the peasantry in Hungary and in the Balkan states, as well as the dairy industry, and ham-curing are also fully developed. A peculiarity of Brasso, which constitutes a survival of the old methods of trade with the Balkan states, is the number of money-changers who ply their trade at small movable tables in the market-place and in the open street. Brasso is the most populous town of Transylvania, and its population is composed in about equal numbers of Germans, Magyars and Rumanians. The town, especially on market days, presents an animated and picturesque aspect. Here are seen Germans, Szeklers, Magyars, Rumanians, Armenians and Gipsies, each of them wearing their distinctive national costume, and talking and bargaining in their own special idiom.

Amongst the places of interest round Brasso is the watering-place Zaizon, 15 m. to the east, with ferruginous and iodine waters; while about 17 m. to the south-west lies the pretty Rumanian village of Zernest, where in 1690 the Austrian general Heussler was defeated and taken prisoner by Imre (Emerich) Tokoly, the usurper of the Transylvanian throne.

Brasso was founded by the Teutonic Order in 1211, and soon became a flourishing town. Through the activity of Honterus it played a leading part in the introduction of the Reformation in Transylvania in the 16th century. The town was almost completely destroyed by the big fire of 1689. During the revolution of 1848-1849 it was besieged by the Hungarians under General Bern from March to July 1849, and several engagements between the Austrian and the Hungarian troops took place in its neighbourhood.

BRATHWAIT, RICHARD (1588-1673), English poet, son of Thomas Brathwait, was born in 1588 at his father's manor of Burneshead, near Kendal, Westmorland. He entered Oriel College, Oxford, in 1604, and remained there for some years, pursuing the study of poetry and Roman history. He removed to Cambridge to study law and afterwards to London to the Inns of Court. Thomas Brathwait died in 1610, and the son went down to live on the estate he inherited from his father. In 1617 he married Frances Lawson of Nesham, near Darlington. On the death of his elder brother, Sir Thomas Brathwait, in 1618, Richard became the head of the family, and an important personage in the county, being deputy-lieutenant and justice of the peace. In 1633 his wife died, and in 1639 he married again. His only son by this second marriage, Sir Stafford Brathwait, was killed in a sea-fight against the Algerian pirates. Richard Brathwait's most famous work is _Barnabae Itinerarium or Barnabees Journall_ [1638], by "Corymbaeus," written in English and Latin rhyme. The title-page says it is written for the "travellers' solace" and is to be chanted to the old tune of "Barnabe." The story of "drunken Barnabee's" four journeys to the north of England contains much amusing topographical information, and its gaiety is unflagging. Barnabee rarely visits a town or village without some notice of an excellent inn or a charming hostess, but he hardly deserves the epithet "drunken." At Banbury he saw the Puritan who has become proverbial,

"Hanging of his cat on Monday For killing of a Mouse on Sunday."

Brathwait's identity with "Corymbaeus" was first established by Joseph Haslewood. In his later years he removed to Catterick, where he died on the 4th of May 1673. Among his other works are: _The Golden Fleece_ (1611), with a second title-page announcing "sonnets and madrigals," and a treatise on the _Art of Poesy_, which is not preserved; _The Poets Willow; or the Passionate Shepheard_ (1614); _The Prodigals Teares_ (1614); _The Schollers Medley, or an intermixt Discourse upon Historicall and Poeticall relations_ (1614), known in later editions as a _Survey of History_ (1638, &c.); a collection of epigrams and satires entitled _A Strappado for the Divell_ (1615), with which was published incongruously _Loves Labyrinth_ (edited, 1878, by J.W. Ebsworth); _Natures Embassie; or, the wildemans measures; danced naked by twelve satyres_ (1621), thirty satires finding antique parallels for modern vices; with these are bound up _The Shepheards Tales_ (1621), a collection of pastorals, one section of which was reprinted by Sir Egerton Brydges in 1815; two treatises on manners, _The English Gentleman_ (1630) and _The English Gentlewoman_ (1631); _Anniversaries upon his Panarete_ (1634), a poem in memory of his wife; _Essaies upon the Five Senses_ (1620); _The Psalmes of David ... and other holy Prophets, paraphras'd in English_ (1638); _A Comment upon Two Tales of ... Jeffray Chaucer_ (1665; edited for the Chaucer Soc. by C. Spurgeon, 1901). Thomas Hearne, on whose testimony (MS. collections for the year 1713, vol. 47, p. 127) the authorship of the _Itinerarium_ chiefly rests, not inappropriately called him "the scribler of those times," and the list just given of his works, published under various pseudonyms, is by no means complete.

A full bibliography is given in Joseph Haslewood's edition of _Barnabee's Journall_ (ed. W.C. Hazlitt, 1876). See also J. Corser, _Collectanea_ (Chetham Soc., 1860, &c.).

BRATIANU (or BRATIANO), ION C. (1821-1891), Rumanian statesman, was born at Pitesci in Walachia on the 2nd of June 1821. He entered the Walachian army in 1838, and visited Paris in 1841 for purposes of study. Returning to Walachia, he took part, with his friend C.A. Rosetti and other prominent politicians, in the Rumanian rebellion of 1848, and acted as prefect of police in the provisional government formed in that year. The restoration of Russian and Turkish authority shortly afterwards drove him into exile. He took refuge in Paris, and endeavoured to influence French opinion in favour of the proposed union and autonomy of the Danubian principalities. In 1854, however, he was sentenced to a fine of L120 and three months' imprisonment for sedition, and later confined in a lunatic asylum; but in 1856 he returned home with his brother, Dimitrie Bratianu, afterwards one of his foremost political opponents. During the reign of Prince Cuza (1859-1866), Bratianu figured prominently as one of the Liberal leaders. He assisted in 1866 in the deposition of Cuza and the election of Prince Charles of Hohenzollern, under whom he held several ministerial appointments during the next four years. He was arrested for complicity in the revolution of 1870, but soon released. In 1876, aided by C.A. Rosetti, he formed a Liberal cabinet, which remained in power until 1888. For an account of his work in connexion with the Russo-Turkish War of 1877, the Berlin congress, the establishment of the Rumanian kingdom, the revision of the constitution, and other reforms, see RUMANIA. After 1883 Bratianu acted as sole leader of the Liberals, owing to a quarrel with C.A. Rosetti, his friend and political ally for nearly forty years. His long tenure of office, without parallel in Rumanian history, rendered Bratianu extremely unpopular, and at its close his impeachment appeared inevitable. But any proceedings taken against the minister would have involved charges against the king, who was largely responsible for his policy; and the impeachment was averted by a vote of parliament in February 1890. Bratianu died on the 16th of May 1891. Besides being the leading statesman of Rumania during the critical years 1876-1888, he attained some eminence as a writer. His French political pamphlets, _Memoire sur l'empire d'Autriche dans la question d'Orient_ (1855), _Reflexions sur la situation_ (1856), _Memoire sur la situation de la Moldavie depuis le traite de Paris_ (1857), and _La Question religieuse en Roumanie_ (1866), were all published in Paris.

For his other writings and speeches see _Din Scrierile si cuvintarile lui I.C. Bratianu_, 1821-1891 (Bucharest, 1903, &c.), edited with a biographical introduction by D.A. Sturza. A brief anonymous biography, _Ion C. Bratianu_, appeared at Bucharest in 1893.

BRATLANDSDAL (i.e. Bratland valley), a gorge of southern Norway in Stavanger _amt_ (county), formed by the Bratland river, a powerful torrent issuing into Lake Suldal. A remarkable road traverses the gorge by means of cuttings and a tunnel, and the scenery is among the most magnificent in Norway. It is usually approached from Stavanger by way of Sand and Lake Suldal, and the road divides above the gorge, branches running north to Odde and south-east through Telemarken. The junction of the roads is near Breifond, 13 m. above Naes at the mouth of the river, on the west shore of Lake Roldal, which is fed by the snowfield to the west, north and east, and is drained by the Bratland river.

BRATTISHING, or BRANDISHING (from the Fr. _breteche_), in architecture, a sort of crest or ridge on a parapet, or species of embattlement. The term, however, is generally employed to describe the ranges of flowers which form the crests of so many parapets in the Tudor period.

BRATTLEBORO, a village of Windham county, Vermont, U.S.A., in a township (pop. 1910, 7541) of the same name, in the south-east part of the state, 60 m. N. of Springfield, Massachusetts, on the Connecticut river. Pop. (1890) 5467; (1900) 5297 (686 foreign-born); (1910) 6517. It is served by the Central Vermont and the Boston & Maine railways. Situated in a hilly, heavily wooded country, it is an attractive place, with a few houses dating from the 18th century. Among the manufactures are toys, furniture, overalls and organs, the Estey and the Carpenter organs being made there. First settled about 1753, Brattleboro took its name from one of the original patentees, William Brattle (1702-1776), a Massachusetts loyalist. It was incorporated ten years later.

See H. Burnham, _Brattleboro_ (Brattleboro, 1880), and H.M. Burt, _The Attractions of Brattleboro, Glimpses of Past and Present_ (Brattleboro, 1866).

BRAUNAU (Czech _Broumov_), a town of Bohemia, Austria, 139 m. E.N.E. of Prague by rail. Pop. (1900) 7622, chiefly German. The town is built on a rocky eminence on the right bank of the Steine. It has an imposing Benedictine abbey, once a castle, but converted into a religious house in 1322, when Ottakar I. gave the district to the Benedictines. Noteworthy also is the great church of Saints Wenceslaus and Adalbert, built between 1683 and 1733. This stands on the site where, in 1618, the Protestants attempted to build a church, the forcible prevention of which by Abbot Wolfgang Solander was the immediate cause of the protest of the Bohemian estates and the "defenestration" of the ministers Martinic and Slavata, which opened the Thirty Years' War. After the battle of the White Hill, near Prague (1620), the town was deprived of all its privileges, which were, however, in great part restored nine years later. It is now a manufacturing centre (cloth, woollen and cotton stuffs, &c.) and has a considerable trade.

BRAUNSBERG, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Prussia, 38 m. by rail S.W. of Konigsberg, on the Passarge, 4 m. from its mouth in the Frisches Haff. Pop. (1900) 12,497. It possesses numerous Roman Catholic institutions, of which the most important is the Lyceum Hosianum (enjoying university rank), founded in 1564 by the cardinal bishop Stanislaus Hosius. Brewing, tanning, and the manufactures of soap, yeast, carriages and bricks are the most important industries of the town, which also carries on a certain amount of trade in corn, ship timber and yarn. The river is navigable for small vessels. The castle of Braunsberg was built by the Teutonic knights in 1241, and the town was founded ten years later. Destroyed by the Prussians in 1262, it was restored in 1279. The town, which was the seat of the bishops of Ermeland from 1255 to 1298, was granted the "law of Lubeck" by its bishop in 1284, and admitted to the Hanseatic League. After numerous vicissitudes it fell into the hands of the Poles in 1520, and in 1626 it was captured by Gustavus Adolphus. The Swedes kept possession till 1635. It fell to Prussia by the first partition of Poland in 1772.

BRAVO (Ital. for "brave"), the name for hired assassins such as were formerly common in Italy. The word had at first no evil meaning, but was applied to the retainers of the great noble houses, or to the cavalier-type of swashbucklers familiar in fiction. In later Italian history, especially in that of Venice, the _bravi_ were desperate ruffians who for payment were ready to commit any crime, however foul.

BRAWLING (probably connected with Ger. _brallen_, to roar, shout), in law, the offence of quarrelling, or creating a disturbance in a church or churchyard. During the early stages of the Reformation in England religious controversy too often became converted into actual disturbance, and the ritual lawlessness of the parochial clergy very frequently provoked popular violence. To repress these disturbances an act was passed in 1551, by which it was enacted "that if any person shall, by words only, quarrel, chide or brawl in any church or churchyard, it shall be lawful for the ordinary of the place where the same shall be done and proved by two lawful witnesses, to suspend any person so offending, if he be a layman, from the entrance of the church, and if he be a clerk, from the ministration of his office, for so long as the said ordinary shall think meet, according to the fault." An act of 1553 added the punishment of imprisonment until the party should repent. The act of 1551 was partly repealed in 1828 and wholly repealed as regards laymen by the Ecclesiastical Courts Jurisdiction Act 1860. Under that act, which applies to Ireland as well as to England, persons guilty of riotous, violent or indecent behaviour, in churches and chapels of the Church of England or Ireland, or in any chapel of any religious denomination, or in England in any place of religious worship duly certified, or in churchyards or burial-grounds, are liable on conviction before two justices to a penalty of not more than L5, or imprisonment for any term not exceeding two months. This enactment applies to clergy as well as to laity, and a clergyman of the Church of England convicted under it may also be dealt with under the Clergy Discipline Act of 1892 (_Girt v. Fillingham_, 1901, L.R. Prob. 176). When Mr J. Kensit during an ordination service in St Paul's cathedral "objected" to one of the candidates for ordination, on grounds which did not constitute an impediment or notable crime within the meaning of the ordination service, he was held to have unlawfully disturbed the bishop of London in the conduct of the service, and to be liable to conviction under the act of 1860 (_Kensit_ v. _Dean and Chapter of St Paul's_, 1905, L.R. 2 K.B. 249). The public worship of Protestant Dissenters, Roman Catholics and Jews in England had before 1860 been protected by a series of statutes beginning with the Toleration Act of 1689, and ending with the Liberty of Religious Worship Act 1855. These enactments, though not repealed, are for practical purposes superseded by the summary remedy given by the act of 1860. In Scotland disturbance of public worship is punishable as a breach of the peace (_Dougall_ v. _Dykes_, 1861, 4 Irvine 101).

In British possessions abroad interference with religious worship is usually dealt with by legislation, and not as a common-law offence. In India it is an offence voluntarily to cause disturbance to any assembly lawfully engaged in the performance of religious worship or religious ceremonies (Penal Code, s. 296). Under the Queensland Criminal Code of 1899 (s. 207) penalties are imposed on persons who wilfully and without lawful justification or excuse (the proof of which lies on them) disquiet or disturb any meeting of persons lawfully assembled for religious worship, or assault any forces lawfully officiating at such meeting, or any of the persons there assembled.

In the United States disturbance of religious worship is treated as an offence under the common law, which is in many states supplemented by legislation (see Bishop, _Amer. Crim. Law_, 8th ed. 1892, vol. i. s. 542, vol. ii. ss. 303-305; California Penal Code, s. 302; _Revised Laws of Massachusetts_, 1902, chap. 212, s. 30.).

BRAY, SIR REGINALD (d. 1503), British statesman and architect, was the second son of Sir Richard Bray, one of the privy council of Henry VI. Reginald was born in the parish of St John Bedwardine, near Worcester, but the date of his birth is uncertain. He was receiver-general and steward of the household to Sir Henry Stafford, second husband of Margaret, countess of Richmond, whose son afterwards became King Henry VII. The accession of the king Henry VII. favoured the fortunes of Reginald Bray, who was created a knight of the Bath at the coronation and afterwards a knight of the Garter. In the first year of Henry VII.'s reign he was given a grant of the constableship of Oakham Castle in Rutland, and was appointed joint chief justice with Lord Fitz Walter of all the forest south of Trent and chosen of the privy council. Subsequently he was made high treasurer and chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster. In October 1494 he became high steward of the university of Oxford, and he was a member of the parliament summoned in the 11th year of Henry VII's reign. In June 1497 he was at the battle of Blackheath, and his services in repressing the Cornish rebels were rewarded with a gift of estates and the title of knight banneret. His taste and skill in architecture are attested by Henry VII.'s chapel at Westminster and St George's chapel at Windsor. He directed the building of the former, and the finishing and decoration of the latter, to which, moreover, he was a liberal contributor, building at his own expense a chapel still called by his name and ornamented with his crest, the initial letters of his name, and a device representing the hemp-bray, an instrument used by hemp manufacturers. He died in 1503, before the Westminster chapel was completed, and was interred in St George's chapel.

BRAY, THOMAS (1656-1730), English divine, was born at Marton, Shropshire, in 1656, and educated at All Souls' College, Oxford. After leaving the university he was appointed vicar of Over-Whitacre, and rector of Sheldon in Warwickshire, where he wrote his famous _Catechetical Lectures_. Henry Compton, bishop of London, appointed him in 1696 as his commissary to organize the Anglican church in Maryland, and he was in that colony in 1699-1700. He took a great interest in colonial missions, especially among the American Indians, and it is to his exertions that the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel owes its existence. He also projected a successful scheme for establishing parish libraries in England and America, out of which grew the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. From 1706 till his death in February 1730 he was rector of St Botolph-Without, Aldgate, London, being unceasingly engaged in philanthropic and literary pursuits.

BRAY, a village in the Wokingham parliamentary division of Berkshire, England, beautifully situated on the west (right) bank of the Thames, 1 m. S. of Maidenhead Bridge. Pop. (1901) 2978. There are numerous riverside residences in the locality. The church of St Michael has portions of various dates from the Early English period onward, and is much restored. It contains a number of brasses of the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. A well-known ballad, "The Vicar of Bray," tells how a vicar held his position by easy conversions of faith according to necessity, from the days of Charles II. until the accession of George I. and the foundation of "the illustrious house of Hanover" (1714). One Francis Carswell, who is buried in the church, was vicar for forty-two years, approximately during this period, dying in 1709; but the legend is earlier, and the name of the vicar who gave rise to it is not certainly known. That of Simon Aleyn, who held the office from c. 1540 to 1588, is generally accepted, as, in the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary and Elizabeth, he is said to have been successively Papist, Protestant, Papist and Protestant. The name of Simon Simonds is also given on the authority of the vicar of the parish in 1745; Simonds died a canon of Windsor in 1551, but had been vicar of Bray. Tradition ascribes the song to a soldier in Colonel Fuller's troop of dragoons in the reign of George I.

BRAY, a seaport and watering-place of Co. Wicklow, Ireland, 12 m. S.S.E. of Dublin on the Dublin & South-Eastern railway, situated on both sides of the river Bray. Pop. of urban district (1901) 7424. For parliamentary purposes it is divided between the eastern division of county Wicklow and the southern of county Dublin. A harbour was constructed by the urban district council (the harbour authority) which accommodates ships of 400 tons. There is some industry in brewing, milling and fishing, but the town, which is known as the "Irish Brighton," is almost wholly dependent for its prosperity on visitors from Dublin and elsewhere. It therefore possesses all the equipments of a modern seaside resort; there is a fine sea-wall with esplanade upwards of a mile in length; the bathing is good, and race meetings are held. The town is rapidly increasing in size. The coast, especially towards the promontory of Bray Head, offers beautiful sea-views, and some of the best inland scenery in the county is readily accessible, such as the Glens of the Dargle and the Downs, the demesne of Powerscourt, the Bray river, with its loughs, and the pass of the Scalp. The demesne of Kilruddery, the seat of the earls of Meath, is specially beautiful. About 1170 Bray was bestowed by Richard de Clare or Strongbow, earl of Pembroke and Strigul, on Walter de Reddesford, who took the title of baron of Bray, and built a castle.

BRAYLEY, EDWARD WEDLAKE (1773-1854), English antiquary and topographer, was born at Lambeth, London, in 1773. He was apprenticed to the enamelling trade, but early developed literary tastes. He formed a close friendship with John Britton, which lasted for sixty-five years. They entered into a literary partnership, and after some small successes at song and play writing they became joint editors of _The Beauties of England and Wales_, themselves writing many of the volumes. Long after he had become famous as a topographer, Brayley continued his enamel work. In 1823 he was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He died in London on the 23rd of September 1854. His other works include _Sir Reginalde or the Black Tower_ (1803); _Views in Suffolk, Norfolk and Northamptonshire, illustrative of works of Robt. Bloowifield_ (1806); _Lambeth Palace_ (1806); _The History of the Abbey Church of Westminster_ (2 vols., 1818); _Topographical Sketches of Brighthelmstone_ (1825); _Historical and Descriptive Accounts of Theatres of London_ (1826); _Londiniana_ (1829); _History of Surrey_ (5 vols., 1841-1848).

BRAZIER (from the Fr. _brasier_, which comes from _braise_, hot charcoal), a metal receptacle for holding burning coals or charcoal, much used in southern Europe and the East for warming rooms. Braziers are often elegant in form, and highly artistic in ornamentation, with chased or embossed feet and decorated exteriors.

BRAZIL, or BRASIL, a legendary island in the Atlantic Ocean. The name connects itself with the red dye-woods so called in the middle ages, possibly also applied to other vegetable dyes, and so descending from the _Insulae Purpurariae_ of Pliny. It first appears as the _I. de Brazi_ in the Venetian map of Andrea Bianco (1436), where it is found attached to one of the larger islands of the Azores. When this group became better known and was colonized, the island in question was renamed Terceira. It is probable that the familiar existence of "Brazil" as a geographical name led to its bestowal upon the vast region of South America, which was found to supply dye-woods kindred to those which the name properly denoted. The older memory survived also, and the Island of Brazil retained its place in mid-ocean, some hundred miles to the west of Ireland, both in the traditions of the forecastle and in charts. In J. Purdy's _General Chart of the Atlantic_, "corrected to 1830," the "Brazil Rock (high)" is marked with no indication of doubt, in 51 deg. 10' N. and 15 deg. 50' W. In a chart of currents by A.G. Findlay, dated 1853, these names appear again. But in his 12th edition of Purdy's _Memoir Descriptive and Explanatory of the N. Atlantic Ocean_ (1865), the existence of Brazil and some other legendary islands is briefly discussed and rejected. (See also ATLANTIS.)

BRAZIL, a republic of South America, the largest political division of that continent and the third largest of the western hemisphere. It is larger than the continental United States excluding Alaska, and slightly larger than the great bulk of Europe lying east of France. Its extreme dimensions are 2629 m. from Cape Orange (4 deg. 21' N.) almost due south to the river Chuy (33 deg. 45' S. lat.), and 2691 m. from Olinda (Ponta de Pedra, 8 deg. 0' 57" S., 34 deg. 50' W.) due west to the Peruvian frontier (about 73 deg. 50' W.). The most northerly point, the Serra Roraima on the Venezuela and British Guiana frontier (5 deg. 10' N.), is 56 m. farther north than Cape Orange. The area, which was augmented by more than 60,000 sq. m. in 1903 and diminished slightly in the boundary adjustment with British Guiana (1904), is estimated to have been 3,228,452 sq. m. in 1900 (A. Supan, _Die Bevolkerung der Erde_, Gotha, 1904). A subsequent planimetric calculation, which takes into account these territorial changes, increases the area to 3,270,000 sq. m.

_Boundaries._--Brazil is bounded N. by Colombia, Venezuela and the Guianas, N.E., E. and S.E. by the Atlantic, S. by Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia, and W. by Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. Its territory touches that of every South American nation, except Chile, and with each one there has been a boundary dispute at some stage in its political life. The Spanish and Portuguese crowns attempted to define the limits between their American colonies in 1750 and 1777, and the lines adopted still serve in great part to separate Brazil from its neighbours. Lack of information regarding the geographical features of the interior, however, led to some indefinite descriptions, and these have been fruitful sources of dispute ever since. The Portuguese were persistent trespassers in early colonial times, and their land-hunger took them far beyond the limits fixed by Pope Alexander VI. In the boundary disputes which have followed, Brazil seems to have pursued this traditional policy, and generally with success.

Beginning at the mouth of the Arroyo del Chuy, at the southern extremity of a long sandbank separating Lake Mirim from the Atlantic (33 deg.45' S. lat.), the boundary line between Brazil and Uruguay passes up that rivulet and across to the most southerly tributary of Lake Mirim, thence down the western shore of that lake to the Jaguarao and up that river to its most southerly source. The line then crosses to the hill-range called Cuchilla de Sant' Anna, which is followed in a north-west direction to the source of the Cuareim, or Quarahy, this river becoming the boundary down to the Uruguay. This line was fixed by the treaty of 1851, by which the control of Lake Mirim remains with Brazil. Beginning at the mouth of the Quarahy, the boundary line between Brazil and Argentina ascends the Uruguay, crosses to the source of the Santo Antonio, and descends that small stream and the Iguassu to the Parana, where it terminates. This line was defined by the treaty of 1857, and by the decision of President Cleveland in 1895 with regard to the small section between the Uruguay and Iguassu rivers. The boundary with Paraguay was definitely settled in 1872. It ascends the Parana to the great falls of Guayra, or Sete Quedas, and thence westward along the water-parting of the Sierra de Maracayu to the _cerro_ of that name, thence northerly along the Sierra d'Amambay to the source of the Estrella, a small tributary of the Apa, and thence down those two streams to the Paraguay. From this point the line ascends the Paraguay to the mouth of the Rio Negro, the outlet of the Bahia Negra, where the Bolivian boundary begins. As regards the Peruvian boundary, an agreement was reached in 1904 to submit the dispute to the arbitration of the president of Argentina in case further efforts to reach an amicable settlement failed. The provisional line, representing the Brazilian claim, begins at the termination of the Bolivian section (the intersection of the 11th parallel with the meridian of 72 deg. 26' W. approx.) and follows a semicircular direction north-west and north to the source of the Javary (or Yavary), to include the basins of the Purus and Jurua within Brazilian jurisdiction. The line follows the Javary to its junction with the Amazon, and runs thence north by east direct to the mouth of the Apaporis, a tributary of the Yapura, in about 1 deg. 30' S. lat., 69 deg. 20' W. long., where the Peruvian section ends. The whole of this line, however, was subject to future adjustments, Peru claiming all that part of the Amazon valley extending eastward to the Madeira and lying between the Beni and the east and west boundary line agreed upon by Spain and Portugal in 1750 and 1777, which is near the 7th parallel. With regard to the section between the Amazon and the Apaporis river, already settled between Brazil and Peru, the territory has been in protracted dispute between Peru, Ecuador and Colombia; but a treaty of limits between Brazil and Ecuador was signed in 1901 and promulgated in 1905. The boundary with Colombia, fixed by treaty of April 24, 1907, follows the lower rim of the Amazon basin, as defined by Brazil. The Colombian claim included the left bank of the Amazon eastward to the Auahy or Avahy-parana channel between the Amazon and Yapura, whence the line ran northward to the Negro near the intersection of the 66th meridian. The Brazilian line ran north and north-west from the mouth of the Apaporis to the 70th meridian, which was followed to the water-parting south of the Uaupes basin, thence north-east to the Uaupes river, which was crossed close to the 69th meridian, thence easterly along the Serra Tunaji and Isana river to Cuyari, thence northerly up the Cuyari and one of its small tributaries to the Serra Capparro, and thence east and south-east along this range to the Cucuhy rock (Pedra de Cucuhy) on the left bank of the Negro, where the Colombian section ends. Negotiations for the settlement of this controversy, which involved fully one-third of the state of Amazonas, were broken off in 1870, but were resumed in 1905. The boundary with Venezuela, which was defined by a treaty of 1859, runs south-eastward from Cucuhy across a level country intersected by rivers and channels tributary to both the Negro and Orinoco, to the Serra Cupuy watershed which separates the rivers of the Amazon and Orinoco valleys. This watershed includes the ranges running eastward and northward under the names of Imeri, Tapiira-peco, Curupira, Parima and Pacaraima, the Venezuelan section terminating at Mt. Roraima. On the 9th of December 1905 protocols were signed at Caracas accepting the line between Cucuhy and the Serra Cupuy located in 1880, and referring the remainder, which had been located by a Brazilian commission in 1882 and 1884, to a mixed commission for verification.

The disputed boundary between Brazil and British Guiana, which involved the possession of a territory having an estimated area of 12,741 sq. m., was settled by arbitration in 1904 with the king of Italy as arbitrator, the award being a compromise division by which Great Britain received about 7336 sq. m. and Brazil about 5405. The definite boundary line starts from Mt. Roraima and follows the water-parting east and south to the source of the Ireng or Mahu river, which with the Takutu forms the boundary as far south as 1 deg. N. to enclose the basin of the Essequibo and its tributaries, thence it turns east and north of east along the Serra Acaria to unite with the unsettled boundary line of Dutch Guiana near the intersection of the 2nd parallel north with the 56th meridian. Negotiations were initiated in 1905 for the definite location of the boundary with Dutch Guiana. Running north-east and south-east to enclose the sources of the Rio Paru, it unites with the French Guiana line at 2 deg. 10' N., 55 deg. W., and thence runs easterly along the water-parting of the Serra Tumuc-Humac to the source of the Oyapok, which river is the divisional line to the Atlantic coast. The boundary with French Guiana (see GUIANA), which had long been a subject of dispute, was settled by arbitration in 1900, the award being rendered by the government of Switzerland. The area of the disputed territory was about 34,750 sq. m.

_Physical Geography._--A relief map of Brazil shows two very irregular divisions of surface: the great river basins, or plains, of the Amazon-Tocantins and La Plata, which are practically connected by low elevations in Bolivia, and a huge, shapeless mass of highlands filling the eastern projection of the continent and extending southward to the plains of Rio Grande do Sul and westward to the Bolivian frontier. Besides these there are a narrow coastal plain, the low plains of Rio Grande do Sul, and the Guiana highlands on the northern slope of the Amazon basin below the Rio Negro.

Relief.

The coastal plain consists in great part of sandy beaches, detritus formations, and partially submerged areas caused by uplifted beaches and obstructed river channels. Mangrove swamps, lagoons and marshes, with inland canals following the coast line for long distances, are characteristic features of a large extent of the Brazilian coast. Parts of this coastal plain, however, have an elevation of 100 to 200 ft., are rolling and fertile in character, and terminate on the coast in a line of bluffs. In the larger depressions, like that of the Reconcavo of Bahia, there are large alluvial areas celebrated for their fertility. This plain is of varying width, and on some parts of the coast it disappears altogether. In Rio Grande do Sul, where two large lakes have been created by uplifted sand beaches, the coastal plain widens greatly, and is merged in an extensive open, rolling grassy plain, traversed by ridges of low hills (_cuchillas_), similar to the neighbouring republic of Uruguay. The western part of this plain is drained by the Uruguay and its tributaries, which places it within the river Plate (La Plata) basin.

The two great river basins of the Amazon-Tocantins and La Plata comprise within themselves, approximately, three-fifths of the total area of Brazil. Large areas of these great river plains are annually flooded, the flood-plains of the Amazon extending nearly across the whole country and comprising thousands of square miles. The Amazon plain is heavily forested and has a slope of less than one inch to the mile within Brazilian territory--one competent authority placing it at about one-fifth of an inch per mile. The La Plata basin is less heavily wooded, its surface more varied, and its Brazilian part stands at a much higher elevation.

Of the two highland regions of Brazil, that of the northern slope of the Amazon basin belongs physically to the isolated mountain system extending eastward from the Negro and Orinoco to the Atlantic, the water-parting of which forms the boundary line between the Guianas and Brazil. The culminating point is near the western extremity of this chain and its altitude is estimated at 8500 ft. The ranges gradually diminish in elevation towards the east, the highest point of the Tumuc-Humac range, on the frontier of French Guiana, being about 2600 ft. The Brazilian plateau slopes southward and eastward, traversed by broken ranges of low mountains and deeply eroded by river courses. The table-topped hills of Almeyrin (or Almeirim) and Erere, which lie near the lower Amazon and rise to heights of 800 and 900 ft., are generally considered the southernmost margin of this plateau, though Agassiz and others describe them as remains of a great sandstone sheet which once covered the entire Amazon valley. Its general elevation has been estimated to be about 2000 ft. It is a stony, semi-arid region, thinly wooded, having good grazing _campos_ in its extreme western section. Its semi-arid character is due to the mountain ranges on its northern frontier, which extract the moisture from the north-east trades and leave the Brazilian plateau behind them with a very limited rainfall, except near the Atlantic coast. The more arid districts offer no inducement for settlement and are inhabited only by a few roving bands of Indians, but there were settlements of whites in the grazing districts of the Rio Branco at an early date, and a few hundreds of adventurers have occupied the mining districts of the east. In general, Brazilian Guiana, as this plateau region is sometimes called, is one of the least attractive parts of the republic.

The great Brazilian plateau, which is the most important physical division of Brazil, consists of an elevated tableland 1000 to 3000 ft. above the sea-level, traversed by two great mountain systems, and deeply eroded and indented by numerous rivers. A thick sandstone sheet once covered the greater part if not all of it, remains of which are found on the elevated _chapadas_ of the interior and on isolated elevations extending across the republic toward its western frontier. These chapadas and elevations, which are usually described as mountain ranges, are capped by horizontal strata of sandstone and show the original surface, which has been worn away by the rivers, leaving here and there broad flat-topped ridges between river basins and narrower ranges of hills between river courses. From the valleys their rugged, deeply indented escarpments, stretching away to the horizon, have the appearance of a continuous chain of mountains. The only true mountain systems, however, so far as known, are the two parallel ranges which follow the contour of the coast, and the central, or Goyana, system. The first consists of an almost continuous range crossing the northern end of Rio Grande do Sul and following the coast northward to the vicinity of Cape Frio, and thence northward in broken ranges to the vicinity of Cape St Roque, and a second parallel range running from eastern Sao Paulo northeast and north to the eastern margin of the Sao Francisco basin in northern Bahia, where that river turns eastward to the Atlantic. The first of these is generally known as the Serra do Mar, or Coast Range, though it is locally known under many names. Its culminating point is in the Organ Mountains (Serra dos Orgaos), near Rio de Janeiro, which reaches an elevation of 7323 ft. The inland range, which is separated from the Coast Range in the vicinity of Rio de Janeiro by the valley of the Parahyba do Sul river, is known as the Serra da Mantiqueira, and from the point where it turns northward to form the eastern rim of the Sao Francisco basin, as the Serra do Espinhaco. This range is also known under various local names. Its culminating point is toward the western extremity of the Mantiqueira range where the Itatiaya, or Itatiaia-assu, peak rises to an elevation of 8898 ft. (other measurements give 9823 ft.), probably the highest summit in Brazil. This range forms the true backbone of the maritime mountainous belt and rises from the plateau itself, while the Coast Range rises on its eastern margin and forms a rim to the plateau. North of Cape Frio the Coast Range is much broken and less elevated, while the Serra do Espinhaco takes a more inland course and is separated from the coast by great gently-sloping, semi-barren terraces. The second system--the Central or Goyana--consists of two distinct chains of mountains converging toward the north in the elevated _chapadao_ between the Tocantins and Sao Francisco basins. The eastern range of this central system, which crosses western Minas Geraes from the so-called Serra das Vertentes to the valley of the Paracatu, a western tributary of the Sao Francisco, is called the Serra da Canastra and Serra da Matta da Corde. Its culminating point is toward its southern extremity in the Serra da Canastra, 4206 ft. above sea-level. The western range, or what is definitely known of it, runs across southern Goyaz, south-west to north-east, and forms the water-parting between the Parana and Tocantins-Araguaya basins. Its culminating point is in the Montes Pyreneos, near the city of Goyaz, and is about 4500 ft. above sea-level.

The great part of this immense region consists of _chapadoes_, as the larger table-land areas are called, _chapadas_ or smaller sections of the same, and broadly excavated river valleys. How extensive this work of erosion has been may be seen in the Tocantins-Araguaya basin, where a great pear-shaped depression, approximately 100 to 500 m. wide, 700 m. long, and from 1000 to 1500 ft. deep, has been excavated northward from the centre of the plateau. Southward the Parana has excavated another great basin and eastward the Sao Francisco another. Add to these the eroded river basins of the Xingu, Tapajos and Guapore on the north and west, the Paraguay on the south-west, and the scores of smaller rivers along the Atlantic coast, and we may have some conception of the agencies that have been at work in breaking down and shaping this great table-land, perhaps the oldest part of the continent. The most southern of these _chapadoes_, that of the Parana basin, in which may be included the northern part of the Uruguay and eastern part of the Paraguay basins, includes the greater part of the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catharina, Parana and Sao Paulo, the south-western corner of Minas Geraes, a part of southern Goyaz, and the south-eastern corner of Matto Grosso. The greatest elevation is on its eastern or Atlantic margin where the average is about 3280 ft. above sea-level. The plateau breaks down abruptly toward the sea, and slopes gradually some hundreds of feet toward the south and west. There has been considerable denudation toward the west, the eastern tributaries of the Parana rising very near the coast. The northern and western parts of this plateau have an average elevation a little less than that of the Atlantic margin, and their slopes are toward the south and east, those of Goyaz and Matto Grosso being abrupt and deeply eroded. This great _chapadao_ is in many respects the best part of Brazil, having a temperate climate, extensive areas of fertile soil, rich forests and a regular rainfall. Its Atlantic slopes are heavily wooded, but the western slopes exhibit grass-covered _campos_ between the river courses. The Sao Francisco _chapadao_, which has a general elevation of about 2600 ft., covers the greater part of the states of Minas Geraes and Bahia, and a small part of western Pernambuco, and might also be considered continuous with those of the Parnahyba and Tocantins-Araguaya basins. This region is more tropical in character, partially barren, and has an uncertain rainfall, a large part of the Sao Francisco basin and the upper Atlantic slope of its eastern rim being subject to long-continued droughts. This region is well wooded along the river courses of Minas Geraes, the lower Atlantic slopes of Bahia, which are perhaps outside the plateau proper, and on the weather side of some of the elevated ridges where the rainfall is heavy and regular. It has extensive _campos_ and large areas of exposed rock and stony steppes, but is richly provided with mineral deposits. It breaks down less abruptly toward the Atlantic, the slopes in Bahia being long and gradual. The Parnahyba _chapadao_ covers the state of Piauhy, the southern part of Maranhao, and the western part of Ceara. Its general elevation is less than that of the Sao Francisco region, owing to the slope of the plateau surface toward the Amazon depression and to denudation. It resembles the Sao Francisco region in its uncertain rainfall and exposure to droughts, and in having large areas of _campos_ suitable for grazing purposes. It is thinly wooded, except in the north, where the climatic conditions approach those of the Amazon valley. Its climate is more tropical and its development has gone forward less rapidly than in the more temperate regions of the south. The Amazonian _chapadao_, which includes the remainder of the great Brazilian plateau west of the Sao Francisco and Parnahyba regions and which appears to be the continuation of these tablelands westward, is much the largest of these plateau divisions. It covers the greater part of the states of Matto Grosso and Goyaz, a large part of southern Para, the southern margin of Amazonas, and a considerable part of western Maranhao. It includes the river basins of the Tocantins-Araguaya, Xingu, Tapajos, and the eastern tributaries of the Guapore-Madeira. A considerable part of it has been excavated by these rivers to a level which gives their valleys the elevation and character of lowlands, though isolated hills and ranges with the characteristic overlying horizontal sandstone strata of the ancient plateau show that it was once a highland region. The southern margin of this plateau breaks down abruptly toward the south and overlooks the Parana and Paraguay basins from elevations of 2600 to 3000 ft. There is great diversity in the character and appearance of this extensive region. It lies wholly within the tropics, though its more elevated districts enjoy a temperate climate. Its _chapadas_ are covered with extensive _campos_, its shallow valleys with open woodlands, and its deeper valleys with heavy forests. The rainfall is good, but not heavy. The general slope is toward the Amazon, and its rivers debouch upon the Amazonian plain through a succession of falls and rapids.

There remains only the elevated valley of the Parahyba do Sul, lying between the so-called Serra das Vertentes of southern Minas Geraes and the Serra do Mar, and extending from the Serra da Bocaina, near the city of Sao Paulo, eastward to Cape Frio and the coastal plain north of that point. It includes a small part of eastern Sao Paulo, the greater part of the state of Rio de Janeiro, a small corner of Espirito Santo, and a narrow strip along the southern border of Minas Geraes. It is traversed by two mountain chains, the Serra da Mantiqueira and Serra do Mar, and the broad, fertile valley of the Parahyba do Sul which lies between them, and which slopes gently toward the east from a general elevation exceeding 2000 ft. in Sao Paulo. This region is the smallest of the _chapadao_ divisions of the great plateau, and might be considered either a southward extension of the Sao Francisco or an eastward extension of the Parana _chapadao_. It is one of the most favoured regions of Brazil, having an abundant rainfall, extensive forests of valuable timber, and large areas of fertile soil. The mountain slopes are still masses of dense forest, though their lower elevations and neighbouring valleys have been cleared for cultivation and by dealers in rosewood and other valuable woods. This elevated valley is noted for its fertility and was once the principal coffee-producing district of Brazil.

Rivers.

Outside the two great river systems of the Amazon and river Plate (Rio de la Plata), which are treated under their respective titles, the rivers of Brazil are limited to the numerous small streams and three or four large rivers which flow eastward from the plateau regions directly into the Atlantic. The Amazon system covers the entire north-western part of the republic, the state of Amazonas, nearly the whole of Para and the greater part of Matto Grosso being drained by this great river and its tributaries. If the Tocantins-Araguaya basin is included in the hydrographic system, the greater part of Goyaz and a small part of Maranhao should be added to this drainage area. The Tocantins is sometimes treated as a tributary of the Amazon because its outlet, called the Rio Para, is connected with that great river by a number of inland channels. It is an entirely separate river, however, and the inland communication between them is due to the slight elevation of the intervening country above their ordinary levels and to the enormous volume of water brought down by the Amazon, especially in the flood season. As the outlet of the Tocantins is so near to that of the Amazon, and their lower valleys are conterminous, it is convenient to treat them as parts of the same hydrographic basin.

In the extreme north-east corner of the republic where the Brazilian Guiana plateau slopes toward the Atlantic there is a small area lying outside the drainage basin of the Amazon. Its rivers flow easterly into the Atlantic and drain a triangular-shaped area of the plateau lying between the northern frontier and the southern and western watersheds of the Araguary, whose extreme limits are about 0 deg. 30' N. lat. and 53 deg. 50' W. long. The more important of these rivers are the Araguary, Amapa, Calcoene, Cassipore and Oyapok. The Araguary rises in the Tumuc-Humac mountains, in about 2 deg. 30' N. lat., 52 deg. 10' W. long., and follows a tortuous course south and north-east to the Atlantic. Its largest tributary, the Amapary, rises still farther west. Little is known of the country through which it flows, and its channel is broken by rapids and waterfalls where it descends to the coastal plain. The Amapa is a short river rising on the eastern slopes of the same range and flowing across a low, wooded plain, filled with lagoons. The Calcoene and Cassipore enter the Atlantic farther north and have a north-east course across the same plain. All these small rivers are described as auriferous and have attracted attention for this reason. The Oyapok, or Vicente Pinzon, is the best-known of the group and forms the boundary line between Brazil and French Guiana under the arbitration award of 1900. It rises in about 2 deg. 05' N., 53 deg. 48' W., and flows easterly and north-easterly to the Atlantic. Its course is less tortuous than that of the Araguary.

The rivers of the great Brazilian plateau which flow directly to the Atlantic coast may be divided into two classes: those of its northward slope which flow in a northerly and north-easterly direction to the north-east coast of the republic, and those which drain its eastern slope and flow to the sea in an easterly direction. The former reach the coastal plain over long and gradual descents, and are navigable for considerable distances. The latter descend from the plateau much nearer the coast, and are in most cases navigable for short distances only. In both classes navigation is greatly impeded by sandbars at the mouths of these rivers, while in the districts of periodical rainfall it is greatly restricted in the dry season. The more important rivers of the first division, which are described in more detail under the titles of the Brazilian states through which they flow, are the following: the Gurupy, Tury-assu, Mearim, Itapicuru and Balsas, in the state of Maranhao; the Parnahyba and its tributaries in Piauhy; Jaguaribe in Ceara; and the Apody and Piranhas in Rio Grande do Norte. Of these the Parnahyba is the most important, having a total length of about 900 m., broken at intervals by rapids and navigable in sections. It receives only one important tributary from Maranhao--the Rio das Balsas, 447 m. long--and five from Piauhy, the Urussuhy-assu, Gurgueia, Caninde, Poty and Longa. Piauhy is wholly within its drainage basin, although the river forms the boundary line between that state and Maranhao throughout its entire length. All the rivers in this division are influenced by the periodical character of the rainfall, their navigable channels being greatly shortened in the dry season (August-January). In Ceara the smaller rivers become dry channels in the dry season, and in protracted droughts the larger ones disappear also.

The rivers of the second division are included in a very great extension of coast and are influenced by wide differences in climate. Their character is also determined by the distance of the Serra do Mar from the coast, the more southern rivers having short precipitous courses. The more northern rivers are subject to periodical variations in volume caused by wet and dry seasons, but the greater distance of the coast range and the more gradual breaking down of the plateau toward the sea, give them longer courses and a greater extent of navigable water. North of the Sao Francisco the watershed projecting from the plateau eastward toward Cape St Roque, known as the Serra da Borborema in Parahyba and Rio Grande do Norte where its direction becomes north-east, leaves a triangular section of the easterly slope in which the river courses are short and much broken by rapids. The rainfall, also, is limited and uncertain. The largest of this group of small rivers is the Parahyba do Norte, belonging to the state of Parahyba, whose length is said to be less than 200 m., only 5 or 6 m. of which are navigable for small steamers. The Sao Francisco, which belongs to the inland plateau region, is the largest river of the eastern coast of Brazil and exists by virtue of climatic conditions wholly different from those of the coast where it enters the Atlantic. The tributaries of the lower half of this great river, which belong to the Atlantic coast region, are small and often dry, but the upper river where the rainfall is heavier and more regular receives several large affluents. The river is navigable up to the Paulo Affonso falls, 192 m. from the coast, and above the falls there is a much longer stretch of navigable water.

From the Sao Francisco to Cape Frio there are many short rivers rising on the slopes of the plateau and crossing the narrow coastal plain to the sea. There are also a few of greater length which rise far back on the plateau itself and flow down to the plain through deeply cut, precipitous courses. The navigable channels of these rivers are restricted to the coastal plain, except where a river has excavated for itself a valley back into the plateau. The more important of these rivers are the Itapicuru, Paraguassu, Contas or Jussiape, Pardo or Patype, and Jequitinhonha, of Bahia; the Mucury, and Doce, of Espirito Santo; and the Parahyba do Sul of the state of Rio de Janeiro. Of the Bahia group, the Jequitinhonha, sometimes called the Belmonte on its lower course, is the longest and most important, rising near Serro in the state of Minas Geraes and flowing in a curving north-east direction for a distance of about 500 m., 84 of which are navigable inland from the sea. The Mucury and Doce also rise in Minas Geraes, and are much broken in their descent to the lower plains, the former having a navigable channel of 98 m. and the latter of 138 m. The Parahyba, or Parahyba do Sul, which enters the sea about 30 m. north of Cape S. Thome, is the largest and most important of the Atlantic coast rivers south of the Sao Francisco. It rises on an elevated tableland in the state of Sao Paulo and flows across the state of Rio de Janeiro from west to east, through a broad fertile valley producing coffee in its most elevated districts and sugar on its alluvial bottom-lands nearer the sea. It has a total length of 658 m., 57 of which are navigable between S. Fidelis and its mouth, and about 90 m. of its upper course.

South of Cape Frio there are no large rivers along the coast because of the proximity of the Serra do Mar--the coastal plain being very narrow and in places disappearing altogether. There are many short streams along this coast, fed by heavy rainfalls, but they have no geographic importance and no economic value under existing conditions. The largest of these and the only one of commercial value is the Ribeira de Iguape, which has its source on the tablelands of Parana and after receiving several affluents west of the Serra do Mar breaks through a depression in that range and discharges into the Atlantic some miles below Santos on the southern boundary of the state of Sao Paulo. This river has a navigable channel of 118 m. below Xiririca, and communicates with an inland canal or waterway extending for many miles along this coast and known as the Iguape, or Mar Pequeno. In Rio Grande do Sul the Atlantic coastal plain extends westward more than half-way across the state, and is well watered by numerous streams flowing eastward to the Lagoa dos Patos. Of these only two are of large size--the Guayba and Camaquam. The first is formed by the confluence of the Jacuhy, Cahy, Sinos and Gravatahy, and is known under this name only from Porto Alegre to the Ponta de Itapua, where it enters the Lagoa dos Patos. This river system drains a large part of the northern mountainous region of the state, and has a considerable extension of navigable channels between the plateau margin and the lake. In the extreme southern part of the state, the Lagoa Mirim empties into the Lagoa dos Patos through a navigable channel 61-1/2 m. long, called the Rio Sao Goncalo.

The Brazilian rivers of the Rio de la Plata system are numerous and important. Those of the Paraguay drain the south-western part of Matto Grosso, and the tributaries of the Parana cover the western slopes of the Serra do Mar from Rio Grande do Sul north to the south-west part of Minas Geraes, and include the south-east part of Matto Grosso and the south part of Goyaz within their drainage basin. This is one of the most important fluvial systems of Brazil, but its economic value is impaired by the great waterfalls of Guayra, or Sete Quedas, and Uribu-punga, and by the rapids and waterfalls in the majority of its affluents near their junction with the main stream. Between the two great waterfalls of the Parana there is an open channel of 276 m., passing through a rich and healthy country, and receiving large tributaries from one of the most fertile regions of Brazil. Among the larger of these are the great falls of the Iguassu, near the junction of that river with the Parana. Though the Uruguay plays a less important part, its relations to the country are similar to those of the Parana, and its tributaries from the plateau region are similarly broken by falls and rapids. The Paraguay is in great part a lowland river, with a sluggish current, and is navigable by large river steamers up to Corumba, and by smaller steamers to Cuyaba and the mouth of the Jauru.

Lakes.

Compared with the number, length and volume of its rivers, Brazil has very few lakes, only two of which are noticeable for their size. There are a number of lakes in the lowland region of the Amazon valley, but these are mainly overflow reservoirs whose areas expand and contract with the rise and fall of the great river. The coastal plain is also intersected by lagoons, lakes and inland channels formed by uplifted beaches. These inland channels often afford many miles of sheltered navigation. The lakes formed in this manner are generally shallow, and are sometimes associated with extensive swamps, as in southern Bahia. The lakes of the Alagoas coast, however, are long, narrow and deep, occupying valleys which were deeply excavated when the land stood at a higher level, and which were transformed into lakes by the elevation of the coast. The largest of these are the Lagoa do Norte, on whose margin stands the city of Maceio, and the Lagoa do Sul, a few miles south of that city. Both have outlets to the sea, and the former is salt There is a large number of these lakes along the coasts of Espirito Santo and Rio de Janeiro, some of them of considerable size. The two largest lakes of this class are on the coast of Rio Grande do Sul and are known as the Lagoa dos Patos and Lagoa Mirim. Both of these lakes lie nearly parallel with the coast line, are separated from the ocean by broad sand beaches filled with small lakes, and communicate with the ocean through the same channel. The Lagoa dos Patos is about 124 m. long with a maximum width of 37 m., and Lagoa Mirim is 108 m. long with a maximum width of 15 m. Both are navigable, though comparatively shallow and filled with sandbanks. So far as known, there are no lakes of noteworthy size in the interior of the country. There are a few small lakes in Maranhao and Piauhy, some in Goyaz in the great valley of the Araguaya, and a considerable number in Matto Grosso, especially in the Paraguay basin, where the sluggish current of that river is unable to carry away the rainfall in the rainy season.

Coast.

The coast of Brazil is indented with a number of almost landlocked bays, forming spacious and accessible harbours. The larger and more important of these are Todos os Santos, on which is located the city of Sao Salvador or Bahia, and Rio de Janeiro or Guanabara, beside which stands the capital of the republic. These two are freely accessible to the largest ships afloat. The bays of Espirito Santo, Paranagua and Sao Francisco have similar characteristics, but they are smaller and more difficult of access. The first is the harbour for the city of Victoria, and the other two for ports of the same name in southern Brazil. The port of Pernambuco, or Recife, is formed by a stone reef lying across the entrance to a shallow bay at the mouth of two small rivers, Beberibe and Capibaribe, and is accessible to steamers of medium draught. Santa Catharina and Maranhao have well-sheltered harbours formed by an island lying in the mouth of a large bay, but the latter is shallow and difficult of access. Para, Parnahyba, Parahyba, Santos and Rio Grande do Sul are river ports situated near the sea on rivers having the same name; but, with the exception of Para and Santos, they are difficult of access and are of secondary importance. There are still other bays along the coast which are well adapted for commercial purposes but are used only in the coasting trade. Many of the Atlantic coast rivers would afford excellent port facilities if obstructions were removed from their mouths.

_Geology._--Brazil is a region which has been free from violent disturbances since an early geological period. It has, indeed, been subject to oscillations, but the movements have been regional in character and have not been accompanied by the formation of any mountain chain or any belt of intense folding. From the Devonian onwards the beds lie flat or dip at low angles. They are faulted but not sharply folded. The mountain ranges of the east of Brazil, from Cape St Roque to the mouth of the river Plate, are composed chiefly of crystalline and metamorphic rocks. Some of the metamorphic rocks may belong to the older Palaeozoic period, but the greater part of the series is probably Archaean. Similar rocks cover a large area in the province of Goyaz and in the south of the Matto Grosso, and they form, also, the hills which border the basin of the Amazon on the confines of Venezuela and Guiana. They constitute, in fact, an incomplete rim around the basin of sedimentary beds which occupies the Amazonian depression. In a large part of this basin the covering of sedimentary deposits is comparatively thin. The crystalline floor is exposed in the valleys of the Madeira, Xingu, &c. Some of the rocks thus exposed are, however, eruptive (e.g. in the Tapajoz), and probably do not belong to the Archaean. The crystalline rocks are succeeded by beds which have been referred to the Cambrian and Silurian systems. In the valley of the Trombetas, one of the northern tributaries of the Amazon, fossils have been found which indicate either the top of the Ordovician or the bottom of the Silurian. In the Maecuru, another northern affluent, graptolites of Ordovician age have been discovered, and Silurian fossils are said to have been found in the Maraca. Elsewhere the identification of the Silurian and older systems does not rest on palaeontological evidence. Devonian beds cover a much more extensive area. They crop out in a band some 25 to 50 m. north of the lower Amazon and in another band at a still greater distance south of that river. These bands are often concealed by more recent deposits, but it is clear that in this region the Devonian beds form a basin or synclinal with the Amazon for its axis. Devonian beds also lie upon the older rocks in the Matto Grosso and other provinces in the interior of Brazil, where they generally form plateaux of nearly horizontal strata. Fossils have been found in many localities. They belong to either the lower or the middle division of the Devonian system. The fauna shows striking analogies with that of the Bokkeveld beds of South Africa on the one hand and of the Hamilton group of North America on the other. The Carboniferous system in Brazil presents itself under two facies, the one marine and the other terrestrial. In the basin of the Lower Amazon the Carboniferous beds lie within the Devonian synclinal and crop out on both sides of the river next to the Devonian bands. There is a lower series consisting of sandstone and an upper series of limestone. The former appears to be almost unfossiliferous, the latter has yielded a rich marine fauna, which belongs to the top of the Carboniferous or to the Permo-carboniferous. In southern Brazil, on the other hand, in Rio Grande do Sul, Parana, &c., the beds of this period are of terrestrial origin, containing coal seams and remains of plants. Some of the plants are European forms, others belong to the Glossopteris flora characteristic of India and South Africa. The beds are homotaxial with the Karharbari series of India, and represent either the top of the Carboniferous or the base of the Permian of Europe. The only Mesozoic system which is represented in Brazil by marine beds is the Cretaceous, and the marine facies, is restricted to the coasts and the basin of the Amazon. In the province of Sergipe, on the east coast, the beds are approximately on the horizon of the Cenomanian; in the valley of the Amazon they belong to the highest parts of the Cretaceous system, and the fauna shows Tertiary affinities. In the interior of Brazil, the Palaeozoic beds are directly overlaid by a series of red sandstones, &c., which appear to be of continental origin and of which the age is uncertain. Tertiary beds cover a considerable area, especially in the Amazonian depression. They consist chiefly of sands and clays of aeolian and freshwater origin. Of the Pleistocene and recent deposits the most interesting are the remains of extinct animals (_Glyptodon_, _Mylodon_, _Megatherium_, &c.) in the caves of the Sao Francisco.

From the above account it will appear that, excepting near the coast and in the basin of the Amazon, there is no evidence that any part of Brazil has been under the sea since the close of the Devonian period. During the Triassic and Jurassic periods even the basin of the Amazon appears to have been dry land. Eruptive rocks occur in the Devonian and Carboniferous beds, but there is no evidence of volcanic activity since the Palaeozoic epoch. The remarkable "stone reefs" of the north-east coast are ancient beaches hardened by the infiltration of carbonate of lime. They are quite distinct in their formation from the coral reefs of the same coast.

_Climate._--Brazil lies almost wholly within the torrid zone, less than one-twelfth of its area lying south of the tropic of Capricorn. In general terms, it is a tropical country, with sub-tropical and temperate areas covering its three southern states and a great part of the elevated central plateau. The forest-covered, lowland valley of the Amazon is a region of high temperatures which vary little throughout the year, and of heavy rainfall. There is no appreciable change of seasons, except that produced by increased rainfall in the rainy season. The average temperature according to Castelnau is about 78 deg.F., or 82.40 deg. to 84.20 deg. F. according to Agassiz. There is an increase in the rainfall from August to October, and again from November to March, the latter being the regular rainy season, but the time varies considerably between the valley of the upper Amazon and those of the upper Madeira and Negro. There is usually a short dry season on the upper Amazon in January and February, which causes two annual floods--that of November-December, and the great flood of March-June. The subsidence of the latter usually lasts until October. The average rainfall throughout the whole Amazon valley is estimated by Reclus as "probably in excess of 2 metres" (78.7 in.), and the maximum rise of the great flood is about 45 ft. The prevailing winds in the Amazon valley are easterly and westerly (or south-westerly), the former warm and charged with moisture, the latter dry and cold. The easterly winds, which are deflections of the trade winds, blow upstream with great regularity and force, more especially in the winter or dry season, and are felt as far inland as the mouths of the Madeira and Negro. Above these they are less regular and are attracted northward by the heated _llanos_ of Venezuela in winter, or southward by the heated _campos_ of Matto Grosso in summer. The cold south-westerly winds are felt when the sun is north of the equator, and are most severe, for a few days, in the month of May, when a _tempo da friagem_ (cold period) causes much discomfort throughout the upper Amazon region. There are winter winds from the Andes, but in the summer season there are cold currents of air from up-river (_ventos da cima_) which are usually followed by downpours of rain.

The coastal plain as far south as Santos is a region of high temperatures and great humidity. The year is usually divided into a winter (_inverno_) and summer (_verao_), corresponding approximately to a dry and wet season. The "dry" season, however, is a season of moderate rainfall, except on the north-east coast where arid conditions prevail. Another exception is that of the Pernambuco coast, where the rainy season comes between March and August, with the heaviest rainfall from May to July, which is the time of the southern winter. Going southward there is also a gradual decrease in the mean annual temperature, the difference between Rio de Janeiro and the Amazon being about 5 deg. The north-east coast, which is sandy and barren, shows an average mean annual temperature (at Fortaleza) of nearly 80 deg. F., which is slightly higher than those of Maranhao and Para. At Pernambuco the mean summer temperature is 79.5 deg. and that of winter 76.8 deg., which are about 3 deg. lower than the mean temperature of Bahia in summer, and 5 deg. higher than the Bahia mean in winter. South of Bahia there is a gradual increase in the rainfall, that of Rio de Janeiro exceeding 43 in. per annum. At Santos the rainfall is exceptionally heavy and the mean temperature high, but below that point the climatic conditions are considerably modified, the range in temperature being greater, the mean annual temperature lower, and the rainfall more evenly distributed throughout the year. The winds are more variable, and the seasons are more sharply defined. In Rio Grande do Sul the range in temperature is from 26 deg. to 80 deg., the climate being similar to that of Uruguay. At Pelotas, a sea-level port on Lagoa dos Patos, the mean annual temperature is about 63 deg. and the annual rainfall about 42 in. Extreme variations in temperature are often produced by cold south-west storms from the Argentine pampas, which sweep across southern Brazil as far north as Cape Frio, the fall in temperature sometimes being 22 deg. to 27 deg. These storms usually last from two to three days and cause much discomfort. Winter rains are more frequent in southern Brazil, and violent storms prevail in August and September. At Blumenau, on the Santa Catharina coast, the annual rainfall is 53 in.

The climatic conditions of the Brazilian plateau are widely different from those of the coast in many respects. There is less uniformity in temperature, and the elevated _chapadas_ are generally hotter during the day and cooler at night than are localities of the same latitude on the coast. The Brazilian Guiana plateau, lying immediately north of the equator, is in great part a hot, stony desert. Geographically it belongs to the Amazon basin, as its western and southern slopes are drained by tributaries of that great river. Climatically, however, it is a region apart. It lies in the north-east trade winds belt, but the mountain chain on its northern frontier robs these winds of their moisture and leaves the greater part of the Brazilian plateau rainless. Its eastern and western extremities, however, receive more rain, the former being well forested, while the latter is covered with grassy _campos_. South of the Amazon valley and filling a great part of the eastern projection of the continent, is another arid, semi-barren plateau, lying within the south-east trade winds belt, and extending from Piauhy southward to southern Bahia. It covers the state of Piauhy and the western or inland parts of the states of Ceara, Rio Grande do Norte, Parahyba, Pernambuco and Bahia. The year is divided into a dry and wet season, the first from June to December, when rain rarely falls, the streams dry up and the _campos_ are burned bare, and the second from January to May when the rains are sometimes heavy and the _campos_ are covered with luxuriant verdure. The rains are neither regular nor certain, however, and sometimes fail for a succession of years, causing destructive _seccas_ (droughts). The interior districts of Ceara, Pernambuco and Bahia have suffered severely from these _seccas_. The sun temperature is high on these barren tablelands, but the nights are cool and refreshing. The prevailing winds are the south-east trades, which have lost some of their moisture in rising from the coastal plain. In summer, becoming warmed by the heated surface of the plateau, they sweep across it without a cloud or drop of rain. In winter the plateau is less heated, and cold currents of air from the west and south-west cause precipitation over a part if not all of this region. South and south-west of this arid plateau lie the inhabited tablelands of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Minas Geraes, where the climate is greatly modified by a luxuriant vegetation and southerly winds, as well as by the elevation. Minas Geraes is forested along its water courses and along its southern border only; its sun temperature, therefore, is high and the rainfall in its northern districts is comparatively light. Sao Paulo is partly covered by open _campos_, and these also serve to augment the maximum temperature. In both of these states, however, the nights are cool, and the mean annual temperature ranges from 68 deg. to 77 deg., the northern districts of Minas Geraes being much warmer than the southern. In Sao Paulo and southern Minas Geraes there are sometimes frosts. In the Parahyba valley, which extends across the state of Rio de Janeiro, the mean temperature is somewhat higher than it is in Sao Paulo and Minas Geraes, and the nights are warmer, but the higher valleys of the Serra do Mar enjoy a delightfully temperate climate. The rainfall throughout this region is abundant, except in northern Minas Geraes, where the climatic conditions are influenced to some extent by the arid eastern plateau. South of Sao Paulo the tablelands of Parana, Santa Catharina and Rio Grande do Sul enjoy a temperate climate, with an abundant rainfall. There are occasional frosts, but snow is never seen. Of Goyaz and Matto Grosso very little can be said. The lower river valleys of the Tocantins-Araguaya, Xingu, Tapajos and Paraguay are essentially tropical, their climate being hot and humid like that of the Amazon. The higher valleys of the Parana and its tributaries, and of the rivers which flow northward, are sub-tropical in character, having high sun temperatures and cool nights. Above these, the _chapadas_ lie open to the sun and wind and have a cool, bracing atmosphere even where high sun temperatures prevail. The mean annual temperature at Goyaz (city), according to a limited number of observations, is about 77 deg. There is no absolutely dry season in this part of the great Brazilian plateau, though the year is customarily divided into a dry and wet season, the latter running from September to April in Goyaz, and from November to April in Matto Grosso. The prevailing winds are from the north-west in this region, and westerly winds in the rainy season are usually accompanied by rain.

_Fauna._--The indigenous fauna of Brazil is noteworthy not only for the variety and number of its genera and species, but also for its deficiency in the larger mammals. Of this, one of the best authorities on the subject (H.W. Bates in _The Naturalist on the River Amazons_) says: "Brazil, moreover, is throughout poor in terrestrial mammals, and the species are of small size." It is noteworthy, also, for the large number of species having arboreal habits, the density and extent of the Amazon forests favouring their development rather than the development of those of terrestrial habits. Of Quadrumana there are about fifty species in Brazil, all arboreal, thirty-eight of which inhabit the Amazon region. They belong mostly to the _Cebidae_ family, and are provided with prehensile tails. The Carnivora are represented by six species of the _Felidae_, the best known of which is the onca, or jaguar (_F. onca, L_.), and the cougar, or puma (_F. concolor_); three species of the _Canidae_, the South American wolf (_C. jubatus_), and two small jackals (_C. brasiliensis_ and _C. vetulus_); and a few species of the Mustelina including two of the otter, two _Galictis_ and one _Mephitis_. Of the plantigrades, Brazil has no bears, but has the related species of raccoon (_Nasua socialis_ and _N. solitaria_), popularly called _coatis_. The opossum (_Didelphis_) is represented by three or four species, two of which are so small that they are generally called wood rats. The rodents are numerous and include several peculiar species. Only one species of hare is found in Brazil, the _Lepus brasiliensis_, and but one also of the squirrel (_Scyurus_). Of the amphibious rodents, the prea (_Cavia aperea_), moco (_C. rupestris_), paca (_Coelogenys paca_), cutia (_Dasyprocta aguti_) and capybara (_Hydrochoerus capybara_) are noteworthy for their size and extensive range. Their flesh is used as an article of food, that of the paca being highly esteemed. Of the Muridae there are several genera and a large number of species, some of them evidently importations from the Old World. Brazil has three groups of animals similar to the common rat--the _Capromydae_, _Loncheridae_ and _Psammoryctidae_--the best known of which is the "tuco-tuco" (_Clenomys brasiliensis_), a small burrowing animal of Rio Grande do Sul which excavates long subterranean galleries and lives on roots and bulbs. One of the characteristic orders of the Brazilian fauna is that of the Edentata, which comprises the sloth, armadillo and ant-eater. These animals are found only in the tropical regions of South America. The range of the sloth is from the Guianas south into Minas Geraes, the armadillo as far south as the Argentine pampas and the ant-eater from the Amazon south to Paraguay, though it is found in the Amazon region principally. The sloth (_Bradypus_) is an arboreal animal which feeds almost exclusively on the foliage of the Cecropias. It includes two recognized genera and half a dozen species, the best known of which is _B. didactylus_. The common name in Brazil is _preguica_, which is equivalent to its English name. Of armadillos, commonly called _tatu_ in Brazil, the largest species is the _Dasypus gigas_, but the best known is the _tatu-ete_ (_D. octocinctus_), which is highly esteemed for its flesh. The ant-eaters (_Myrmecophaga_) are divided into three or four species, one of which (_M. jubata_) is exclusively terrestrial, and the others arboreal. The popular name for the animal is _tamandua_. The _M. jubata_, or _tamandua bandeira_, is sometimes found as far south as Paraguay. Of the ruminants, Brazil has only four or five species of _Cervidae_, which are likewise common to other countries of South America. The largest of these is the marsh deer (_C. paludosus_), which in size resembles its European congeners. The others are the _C. campestris_, _C. nemorivagus_, _C. rufus_ and a small species or variety called _C. nanus_ by the Danish naturalist Dr P.W. Lund. The pachyderms are represented by three species of the peccary (_Dicotyles_) and two of the anta, or tapir (_Tapirus_). The former are found over a wide range of country, extending into Bolivia and Argentina, and are noted for their impetuous pugnacity. The tapir also has an extensive range between the coast and the foothills of the Andes, and from northern Argentina to south-eastern Colombia. It is the largest of the Brazilian mammals, and inhabits densely forested tracts near river courses. The two species are _T. americanus_, which is the larger and best known, and the _anta chure_, found in Minas Geraes, which is said to be identical with the _T. Roulini_ of Colombia. Perhaps the most interesting mammal of Brazil is the _manati_, or sea-cow (_Manatus americanus_), which inhabits the lower Amazon and sometimes reaches a length of 15 to 20 ft. It is taken with the harpoon and its oil is one of the commercial products of the Amazon valley.

The avifauna of Brazil is rich in genera, species and individuals, especially in species with brilliantly-coloured plumage. It is estimated that more than half the birds of Brazil are insectivorous, and that more than one-eighth are climbers. The range in size is a wide one--from the tiny humming-bird to the ema, rhea, or American ostrich. Although the order which includes song-birds is numerous in species and individuals, it is noticeably poor in really good songsters. On the other hand it is exceptionally rich in species having strident voices and peculiar unmusical calls, like the _paco_ (_Coracina scuttata_) and the _araponga_ (_Chasmorhynchus nudicollis_). Two species of vultures, twenty-three of falcons and eight of owls represent the birds of prey. The best known vulture is the common _urubu_ (_Cathartes foetens_, Illig), which is the universal scavenger of the tropics. The climbers comprise a large number of species, some of which, like those of the parrot (_Psittacidae_) and woodpecker (_Picus_), are particularly noticeable in every wooded region of the country. One of the most striking species of the former is the brilliantly-coloured _arara_ (_Macrocercus_, L.), which is common throughout northern Brazil. Another interesting species is the toucan (_Ramphastos_), whose enormous beak, awkward flight and raucous voice make it a conspicuous object in the great forests of northern Brazil. In strong contrast to the ungainly toucan is the tiny humming-bird, whose beautiful plumage, swiftness of flight and power of wing are sources of constant wonder and admiration. Of this smallest of birds there are fifty-nine well-known species, divided into two groups, the _Phaethorninae_, which prefer the forest shade and live on insects, and the _Trochilinae_, which frequent open sunny places where flowers are to be found. One of the Brazilian birds whose habits have attracted much interest is the _Joao de Barro_ (Clay John) or oven bird (_Furnarius rufus_), which builds a house of reddish clay for its nest and attaches it to the branch of a tree, usually in a fork. The thrush is represented by a number of species, one of which, the _sabia_ (_Mimus_), has become the popular song-bird of Brazil through a poem written by Goncalves Dias. The dove and pigeon have also a number of native species, one of which, the _pomba jurity_ (_Peristera frontalis_), is a highly-appreciated table luxury. The gallinaceous birds are well represented, especially in game birds. The most numerous of these are the _perdiz_ (partridge), the best known of which is the _Tinamus maculosa_ which frequents the _campos_ of the south, the _inhambu_ (_Crypturus_), _capoeira_ (_Odontophorus_), and several species of the penelope family popularly known as the _jacutinga, jacu_ and _jacu-assu_. The common domesticated fowl is not indigenous. Among the wading and running birds, of which the _ema_ is the largest representative, there are many species of both descriptions. In the Amazon lowlands are white herons (_Ardea candidissima_), egrets (_A. egretta_), bitterns (_A. exilis_), blue herons (_A. herodias_) scarlet ibises (_Ibis rubra_), roseate spoonbills (_Platalea ajaja_); on higher ground the beautiful peacock heron (_A. helias_) which is easily domesticated; and on the dry elevated _campos_ the _ceriema_ (_Dicholophus cristatus_) which is prized for its flesh, and the _jacamin_ (_Psophia crepitans_) which is frequently domesticated. Prominent among the storks is the great black-headed white crane, called the _jaburu_ (_Mycteria americana_), which is found along the Amazon and down the coast and grows to a height of 4-1/2 ft. Of the swimmers, the number of species is smaller, but some of them are widely distributed and numerous in individuals. There are but few species of ducks, and they are apparently more numerous in southern Brazil than on the Amazon.

The reptilian fauna exhibits an exceptionally large number of interesting genera and species. A great part of the river systems of the country with their flooded areas are highly favourable to the development of reptilian life. Most prominent among these is the American alligator, of which there are, according to Netterer, two genera and eight species in Brazil. They are very numerous in the Amazon and its tributaries and in the Paraguay, and are found in all the rivers of the Atlantic coast. Three of the Brazilian species are voracious and dangerous. The largest of the Amazon species are the _jacare-assu_ (_Caiman niger_), _jacare_ (_C. fissipes_) and _jacare-tinga_ (_C. sclerops_). The Amazon is also the home of one of the largest fresh-water turtles known, the _Emys amazonica_, locally called the _jurara-assu_ or _tartaruga grande_. These turtles are so numerous that their flesh and eggs have long been a principal food supply for the Indian population of that region. Another Amazon species, the _E. tracaxa_, is still more highly esteemed for its flesh, but it is smaller and deposits fewer eggs in the sandy river beaches. Lagartos (_Iguanas_) and lizards are common everywhere. The ophidians are also numerous, especially in the wooded lowlands valleys, and the poisonous species, though less numerous than others, include some of the most dangerous known--the rattlesnake _surucucu_ (_Lachesis rhombeatus_), and _jararaca_ (_Bothrops_). The Amazon region is frequented by the _giboia_ (boa constrictor), and the central plateau by the _sucuriu_ (_Eunectes murinus_), both distinguished for their enormous size. The batrachians include a very large number of genera and species, especially in the Amazon valley.

The fauna of the rivers and coast of Brazil is richer in species and individuals than that of the land. All the rivers are richly stocked, and valuable fishing grounds are to be found along the coast, especially that of southern Bahia and Espirito Santo where the _garoupa_ (_Serranus_) is found in large numbers. Some of the small fish along the coast are highly esteemed for their flavour. Whales were once numerous between Capes St Roque and Frio, but are now rarely seen. Of the edible river fish, the best known is the _pirarucu_ (_Sudis gigas_), a large fish of the Amazon which is salted and dried for market during the low-water season. Fish is a staple food of the Indian tribes of the Amazon region, and their fishing season is during the period of low water. The visit of Professor Louis Agassiz to the Amazon in 1865 resulted in a list of 1143 species, but it is believed that no less than 1800 to 2000 species are to be found in that great river and its tributaries.

In strong contrast to the poverty of Brazil in the larger mammals is the astonishing profusion of insect life in every part of the country. The Coleoptera and Lepidoptera are especially numerous, both in species and individuals. A striking illustration of this extraordinary profusion was given by the English naturalist H.W. Bates, who found 7000 species of insects in the vicinity of only one of his collecting places on the Amazon (Ega), of which 550 species were of butterflies. Within an hour's walk of Para are to be found, he says, about 700 species of butterflies, "whilst the total number found in the British Islands does not exceed 66, and the whole of Europe supports only 321." (H.W. Bates, _The Naturalist on the River Amazons_.) One of the rare species of the Amazon _Morphos_ (_M. hecuba_) measures 8 to 9 in. across its expanded wings. Dipterous insects are also very numerous in species, especially in those of sanguinary habits, such as the mosquito, _pium_, _maroim_, _carapana_, _borochudo_, &c. In some places these insects constitute a veritable plague, and the infested regions are practically uninhabitable. The related species of the _Oestridae_ family, which include the widely disseminated _chigoe_ or _bicho do pe_ (_Pulex penetrans_), and the equally troublesome _berne_ (_Cutiterebra noxialis_), which is so injurious to animals, are equally numerous. The most numerous of all, however, and perhaps the most harmful to civilized man, are the termites and ants, which are found everywhere in the uninhabited campo and forest regions, as well as in the cultivated districts. Nature has provided several species of animals, birds and reptiles, to feed upon these insects, and various poisonous and suffocating compounds are used to destroy them, but with no great degree of success. It is not uncommon to find once cultivated fields abandoned because of their ravages and to see large _campos_ completely covered with enormous ant-hills. The termites, or "white ants," are exceptionally destructive because of their habit of tunnelling through the softer woods of habitations and furniture, while some species of ants, like the _sauba_, are equally destructive to plantations because of the rapidity with which they strip a tree of its foliage. Spiders are represented by a very large number of species, some of which are beautifully coloured. The largest of these is the _Mygale_ with a body 2 in. in length and outstretched legs covering 7 in., a monster strong enough to capture and kill small birds. A large _Mygale_ found on the island of Siriba, of the Abrolhos group, feeds upon lizards, and has been known to attack and kill young chickens. One of the most troublesome pests of the interior is a minute degenerate spider of the genus _Ixodes_, called _carrapato_, or bush-tick, which breeds on the ground and then creeps up the grass blades and bushes where it waits for some passing man or beast. Its habit is to bury its head in its victim's skin and remain there until gorged with blood, when it drops off. Scorpions are common, but are considered less poisonous than some European species.

_Flora._--Brazil not only is marvellously rich in botanical species, but included at the beginning of the 20th century the largest area of virgin forest on the surface of the earth. The flora falls naturally into three great divisions: that of the Amazon basin where exceptional conditions of heat and moisture prevail; that of the coast where heat, varying rainfall, oceanic influences and changing seasons have greatly modified the general character of the vegetation; and that of the elevated interior, or _sertao_, where dryer conditions, rocky surfaces, higher sun temperatures and large open spaces produce a vegetation widely different from those of the other two regions. Besides these, the flora of the Paraguay basin varies widely from that of the inland plateau, and that of the Brazilian Guiana region is essentially distinct from the Amazon. The latter region is densely forested from the Atlantic to the Andes, but with a varying width of about 200 m. on the coast to about 900 m. between the Bolivian and Venezuelan _llanos_, and thus far civilization has made only a very slight impression upon it. Even where settlements have been located, constant effort is required to keep the vegetation down. Along the coast, much of the virgin forest has been cut away, not only for the creation of cultivated plantations, but to meet the commercial demand for Brazil-wood and furniture woods.

The chief characteristic of the Amazonian forest, aside from its magnitude, is the great diversity of genera and species. In the northern temperate zone we find forests of a single species, others of three or four species; in this great tropical forest the habit of growth is solitary and an acre of ground will contain hundreds of species--palms, myrtles, acacias, mimosas, cecropias, euphorbias, malvaceas, laurels, cedrellas, bignonias, bombaceas, apocyneas, malpigias, lecythises, swartzias, &c. The vegetation of the lower river-margins, which are periodically flooded, differs in some particulars from that of the higher ground, and the same variation is to be found between the forests of the upper and lower Amazon, and between the Amazon and its principal tributaries. The density of the forest is greatly augmented by the _cipos_, or lianas, which overgrow the largest trees to their tops, and by a profusion of epiphytes which cover the highest branches. As a rule the trees of the Amazon forest are not conspicuously high, a few species rarely reaching a height of 200 ft. The average is probably less than one-half that height. This is especially true of the flood plains where the annual inundations prevent the formation of humus and retard forest growth. The largest of the Amazon forest trees are the _massaranduba_ (_Mimusops elata_), called the cow-tree because of its milky sap, the _samauma_ (_Eriodendron samauma_) or silk-cotton tree, the _pau d' arco_ (_Tecoma speciosa_), _pau d' alho_ (_Catraeva tapia_), _bacori_ (_Symphonea coccinea_), _sapucaia_ (_Lecythis ollaria_), and _castanheira_ or brazil-nut tree (_Bertholletia excelsa_). The Amazon region has a comparatively narrow frontage on the Atlantic. In Maranhao, which belongs to the coast region, open spaces or _campos_ appear, though the state is well wooded and its forests have the general characteristics of the lower Amazon. South-east of the Parnahyba the coast region becomes dryer and more sandy and the forests disappear. The coast and tide-water rivers are fringed with mangrove, and the sandy plain reaching back to the margin of the inland plateau is generally bare of vegetation, though the carnahuba palm (_Copernicia cerifera_) and some species of low-growing trees are to be found in many places. The higher levels of this plain are covered with shrubs and small trees, principally mimosas. The slopes of the plateau, which receive a better rainfall, are more heavily forested, some districts being covered with deciduous trees, forming _catingas_ in local parlance. This dry, thinly-wooded region extends south to the states of Parahyba, where a more regular rainfall favours forest growth nearer the coast. Between Parahyba and southern Bahia forests and open plains are intermingled; thence southward the narrow coastal plain and bordering mountain slopes are heavily forested. The sea-coast, bays and tide-water rivers are still fringed with mangrove, and on the sandy shores above Cape Frio grow large numbers of the exotic cocoa-nut palm. Many species of indigenous palms abound, and in places the forests are indescribably luxuriant. These are made up, as Prince Max zu Neuwied found in southern Bahia in 1817, "of the genera _Cocos_, _Melastoma_, _Bignonia_, _Rhexia_, _Mimosa_, _Inga_, _Bombax_, _Ilex_, _Laurus_, _Myrthus_, _Eugenia_, _Jacaranda_, _Jatropha_, _Visinia_, _Lecythis_, _Ficus_, and a thousand other, for the most part, unknown species of trees." Further inland the higher country becomes more open and the forests are less luxuriant. Giant cacti and spiny scrub abound. Then come the _catinga_ tracts, and, beyond these, the open _campos_ of the elevated plateau, dotted with clumps of low growing bushes and broken by tracts of _carrasco_, a thick, matted, bushy growth 10 to 12 ft. in height. Formerly this coast region furnished large quantities of Brazil-wood (_Caesalpinia echinata_), and the river valleys have long been the principal source of Brazil's best cabinet-wood--rosewood (_Dalbergia nigra_), jacaranda (_Machaeriumfirmum_, Benth.), vinhatico (_Plathymenia foliosa_, Benth.), peroba (_Aspidosperma peroba_), cedro, &c. The exotic _mangabeira_ (mango) is found everywhere along the coast, together with the bamboo, orange, lemon, banana, cashew, &c.

Of the great inland region, which includes the arid campos of the north, the partially-wooded plateaus of Minas Geraes, Goyaz and Matto Grosso, the temperate highlands of the south, and the tropical lowlands of the Paraguay basin, no adequate description can be given without taking each section in detail, which can be done to better advantage in describing the individual states. In general, the _carrasco_ growth extends over the whole central plateau, and heavy forests are found only in the deep river valleys. Those opening northward have the characteristic flora of the Amazon basin. The Paraguay basin is covered with extensive marshy tracts and open woodlands, the palms being the conspicuous feature. The vegetation is similar to that of Paraguay and the Chaco, and aquatic plants are specially numerous and luxuriant. On the temperate uplands of the southern states there are imposing forests of South American pine (_Araucaria brasiliensis_), whose bare trunks and umbrella-like tops give to them the appearance of open woodland. These forests extend from Parana into Rio Grande do Sul and smaller tracts are also found in Minas Geraes. Large tracts of _Ilex paraguayensis_, from which _mate_, or Paraguay-tea, is gathered, are found in this same region.

The economic plants of Brazil, both indigenous and exotic, are noticeably numerous. Coffee naturally occupies first place, and is grown wherever frosts are not severe from the Amazon south to Parana. The states of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Geraes are the largest producers, but it is also grown for export in Espirito Santo, Bahia and Ceara. The export in 1905 was 10,820,604 bags of 132 lb. each, with an official valuation of L21,420,330. Sugar cane, another exotic, has an equally wide distribution, and cotton is grown along the coast from Maranhao to Sao Paulo. Other economic plants and fruits having a wide distribution are tobacco, maize, rice, beans, sweet potatoes, bananas, cacao (_Theobroma cacao_), mandioca or cassava (_Manihot utilitissima_), _aipim_ or sweet mandioca (_M. aipi_), guavas (_Psidium guayava_, Raddi), oranges, lemons, limes, grapes, pineapples, _mamao_ (_Carica papaya_), bread-fruit (_Artocarpus incisa_), jack fruit (_A. integrifolia_), and many others less known outside the tropics. Among the palms there are several of great economic value, not only as food producers but also for various domestic uses. The fruit of the _pupunha_ or peach palm (_Guilielma speciosa_) is an important food among the Indians of the Amazon valley, where the tree was cultivated by them long before the discovery of America. Humboldt found it among the native tribes of the Orinoco valley, where it is called _pirijao_. The ita palm, _Mauritia_, _flexuosa_ (a fan-leaf palm) provides an edible fruit, medullary meal, drink, fibre, roofing and timber, but is less used on the Amazon than it is on the lower Orinoco. The _assai_ (_Euterpe oleracea_) is another highly-prized palm because of a beverage made from its fruit along the lower Amazon. A closely-related species or variety (_Euterpe edulis_) is the well-known palmito or cabbage palm found over the greater part of Brazil, whose terminal phylophore is cooked and eaten as a vegetable. Another highly useful palm is the _carnauba_ or _carnahuba_ (_Copernicia cerifera_) which supplies fruit, medullary meal, food for cattle, boards and timber, fibre, wax and medicine. The fibre of the _piassava (Leopoldinia piassava_, or _Attalea funifera_) is widely used for cordage, brushes and brooms. There are many other palms whose fruit, fibre and wood enter largely into the domestic economy of the natives, but the list given shows how important a service these trees rendered to the aboriginal inhabitants of tropical America, and likewise how useful they still are to the people of tropical Brazil. Another vegetable product of the Amazon region is made from the fruit of the _Paullinia sorbilis_, Mart., and is known by the name of _guarana_. It is largely consumed in Bolivia and Matto Grosso, where it is used in the preparation of a beverage which has excellent medicinal properties. The Brazilian flora is also rich in medicinal and aromatic plants, dye-woods, and a wide range of gum and resin-producing shrubs and trees. The best known of these are sarsaparilla, ipecacuanha, cinchona, jaborandi and copaiba; vanilla, tonka beans and cloves; Brazil-wood and anatto (_Bixa orellana_); india-rubber and balata. India-rubber is derived principally from the _Hevea guayanensis_, sometimes called the _Siphonia elastica_, which is found on the Amazon and its tributaries as far inland as the foothills of the Andes. Other rubber-producing trees are the _manicoba_ (_Jatropha Glasiovii_) of Ceara, and the _mangabeira_ (_Hancornia speciosa_), of the central upland regions.

_Population._--The first explorers of Brazil reported a numerous Indian population, but, as the sea-coast afforded a larger and more easily acquired food supply than did the interior, the Indian population was probably numerous only in a comparatively small part of this immense territory, along the sea-coast. Modern explorations have shown that the unsettled inland regions of Brazil are populated by Indians only where the conditions are favourable. They are to be found in wooded districts near rivers, and are rarely found on the elevated _campos_. The immediate result of European colonization was the enslavement and extermination of the Indians along the coast and in all those favoured inland localities where the whites came into contact with them. The southern districts and the Amazon and its tributaries were often raided by slave-hunting expeditions, and their Indian populations were either decimated, or driven farther into the inaccessible forests. But there is no record that the inland districts of western and north-western Brazil were treated in this manner, and their present population may be assumed to represent approximately what it was when the Europeans first came. According to the census of 1890 the Indian population was 1,295,796, but so far as the migratory tribes are concerned the figures are only guesswork. A considerable number of these Indians have been gathered together in _aldeas_ under the charge of government tutors, but the larger part still live in their own villages or as nomads.

Down to the beginning of the 19th century the white colonists were almost exclusively Portuguese. The immigration from countries other than Portugal during the first half of that century was small, but before its close it increased rapidly, particularly from Italy. Fully nine-tenths of these immigrants, including those from the mother country, were of the Latin race. The introduction of African slaves followed closely upon the development of agricultural industries, and continued nominally until 1850, actually until 1854, and according to some authors until 1860. About 1826 it was estimated that the negro population numbered 2,500,000 or three times the white population of that period. The unrestricted intermixture of these three races forms the principal basis of the Brazilian population at the beginning of the 20th century. Brazil has never had a "colour line," and there has never been any popular prejudice against race mixtures. According to the census of 1872 the total population was 9,930,478, of which 1,510,806 were slaves; the race enumeration gave 3,787,289 whites, 1,959,452 Africans, 386,955 Indians, and 3,801,782 mixed bloods. The Indian population certainly exceeded the total given, and the white population must have included many of mixed blood, the habit of so describing themselves being common among the better classes of South American mestizos. The census of 1890 increased the total population to 14,333,915, which, according to an unofficial analysis (_Statesman's Year Book_, 1905), was made up of 6,302,198 whites, 4,638,495 mixed bloods, 2,097,426 Africans, and 1,295,796 Indians. This analysis, if correct, indicates that the vegetative increase of the whites has been greater than that of the Africans and mixed races. This is not the conclusion of many observers, but it may be due to the excessive infant mortality among the lower classes, where an observance of the simplest sanitary laws is practically unknown. The census of the 31st of December 1900 was strikingly defective; it was wholly discarded for the city of Rio de Janeiro, and had to be completed by office computations in the returns from several states. The compilation of the returns was not completed and published until May 1908, according to which the total population was 17,318,556, of which 8,825,636 were males and 8,492,920 females. Not including the city of Rio de Janeiro, whose population was estimated at 691,565 in conformity with a special municipal census of 1906, the total population was 16,626,991, of which 15,572,671 were Roman Catholics, 177,727 Protestants, 876,593 of other faiths. The returns also show a total of 3,038,500 domiciles outside the federal capital, which gives an average of 5.472 to the domicile. These returns will serve to correct the exaggerated estimate of 22,315,000 for 1900 which was published in Brazil and accepted by many foreign publications.

The racial character of the people is not uniform throughout the republic, the whites predominating in the southern states, the Indians in Amazonas and, probably, Matto Grosso, and the mixed races in the central and northern coast states. The excess of whites over the coloured races in the southern states is due to their smaller slave population and to the large number of immigrants attracted to them. Slavery was not abolished until the 13th of May 1888, but a number of successful colonies had already been founded in these states. Other colonies were founded in Bahia, Espirito Santo and Rio de Janeiro during the same period, but they were unsuccessful, partly because of the competition of slave labour. Since the abolition of slavery immigration has poured a large number of labourers into the coffee-producing states, and with beneficial results. This strengthening of the white population of the South with fresh European blood must eventually divide Brazil into two distinct sections: the white states of the south, and the mixed or coloured states of the north. The introduction of European immigrants dates from 1818 when a Swiss colony was located at Nova Friburgo, near Rio de Janeiro, and it was continued under the direction and with the aid of the imperial government down to the creation of the republic. Since then the state governments have assumed charge of immigration, and some of them are spending large sums in the acquisition of labourers. The old system of locating immigrants in colonies, or colonial nuclei, which involved an enormous outlay of money with but slight benefit to the country, has been superseded by a system of locating the immigrants on the large plantations under formal contracts. In some of the coffee districts these contracts have resulted very profitably to the Italian labourers. The total number of colonists and immigrants entering Brazil between 1804 and 1902, inclusive, according to official returns, was 2,208,353. The arrivals fluctuate greatly in number from year to year, influenced by the prevailing economic conditions in the country. At first the Portuguese outnumbered all other nationalities in the immigration returns, but since the abolition of slavery the Italians have passed all competitors and number more than one-half the total arrivals. Of the 700,211 immigrants located in the state of Sao Paulo from 1827 to the end of 1896, no less than 493,535 were Italians, and their aggregate throughout the republic was estimated in 1906 at more than 1,100,000. The German immigration, of which so much has been written for political ends, has been greatly over-estimated; trustworthy estimates in 1906 made the German contingent in the population vary from 350,000 to 500,000. They are settled chiefly in colonies in the southern states, and form a most desirable body of settlers.

_Divisions and Towns._--The republic is divided into twenty states and one federal district, which are the same as the provinces and "municipio neutro" of the empire. Their names also remain unchanged, except that of the federalized district in which the national capital is located, which is called the "districto federal." The republic has no territories, although Amazonas, Matto Grosso, Para and Goyaz cover an immense region of uninhabited and only partially explored territory. The states are subdivided into _comarcas_, or judicial districts, and into _municipios_, or townships, which is the smallest autonomous division. The constitution provides for the autonomy of the municipalities in order to safeguard the permanence of representative institutions. The _parochia_, or parish, an ecclesiastical division, is often used for administrative purposes, but it has no political organization. The names, areas, and populations of the states, together with the names and populations of their capitals, are as follows:--

+--------------------+---------+-----------------------+-----------------------+--------+ | |Area,[1] | Population[2] | |Popula- | | States. | Sq. +-----------+-----------+ State Capitals. |tion,[3]| | | miles. | Census | Census | | Census | | | | 1890. | 1900. | | 1890. | +--------------------+---------+-----------+-----------+-----------------------+--------+ | Alagoas | 22,584 | 511,440 | 649,273 | Maceio | 31,498 | | Amazonas | 742,123 | 147,915 | 249,756 | Manaos | 38,720 | | Bahia | 164,650 | 1,919,802 | 2,117,956 | Sao Salvador[4] |174,412 | | Ceara | 40,253 | 805,687 | 849,127 | Fortaleza | 40,902 | | Espirito Santo | 17,313 | 135,997 | 209,783 | Victoria | 16,887 | | Federal District | 538 | 522,651 | 691,565 | Rio de Janeiro |522,651 | | Goyaz | 288,549 | 227,572 | 255,284 | Goyaz[4] | 17,181 | | Maranhao | 177,569 | 430,854 | 499,308 | S. Luiz do Maranhao[4]| 29,308 | | Matto Grosso | 532,370 | 92,827 | 118,025 | Cuyaba | 17,815 | | Minas Geraes | 221,961 | 3,184,099 | 3,594,471 | Ouro Preto[5] | 59,249 | | Para | 443,922 | 328,455 | 445,356 | Belem[4] | 50,064 | | Parahyba | 28,855 | 457,232 | 490,784 | Parahyba | 18,645 | | Parana | 85,455 | 249,491 | 327,136 | Curityba | 24,553 | | Pernambuco | 49,575 | 1,030,224 | 1,178,150 | Recife[4] |111,556 | | Piauhy | 116,529 | 267,609 | 334,328 | Therezina | 31,523 | | Rio de Janeiro | 26,635 | 276,884 | 274,317 | Nictheroy | 34,269 | | Rio Grande do Norte| 22,196 | 268,273 | 1,149,070 | Natal | 13,725 | | Rio Grande do Sul | 91,337 | 897,455 | 926,035 | Porto Alegre | 52,421 | | Santa Catharina | 28,633 | 283,769 | 320,289 | Desterro[6] | 30,637 | | Sao Paulo | 112,312 | 1,384,753 | 2,282,279 | Sao Paulo | 64,934 | | Sergipe | 15,093 | 310,926 | 356,264 | Araraju | 16,336 | | +---------+-----------+-----------+ | | | Brazil |3,228,452|14,333,915 |17,318,556 | | | +--------------------+---------+-----------+-----------+-----------------------+--------+

_Communications._--Railway construction in Brazil dates from 1852, when work was initiated on the Maua railway running from the head of the bay of Rio de Janeiro to the foot of the Serra where Petropolis is situated. The road is 10 m. long, and its first section was opened to traffic on April 30, 1854, and its second December 16, 1856. The mountain section, 5-1/2 m. long, which uses the Riggenbach system from the terminal to Petropolis, was constructed between 1881 and 1883. The development of railway construction in Brazil has been impeded to a great extent by two unfavourable conditions--by the chain of mountains or plateau escarpments which follow the coast line and obstruct communication with the interior, and by the detached positions of the settlements along the Atlantic, which compel the building of lines from many widely separated points on the coast into a sparsely populated hinterland. A majority of the ports, from which these roads are built, are small and difficult of access, and the coasting trade is restricted to vessels carrying the Brazilian flag. The only ports having a rich and well-populated country behind them are Rio de Janeiro and Santos, and these are the terminals of long lines of railway which are being slowly extended farther into the interior.

The total mileage under traffic at the beginning of 1905 was 10,600 m., divided into 94 separate lines. There were also 745 m. under construction, 1740 m. under survey, and about 1600 m. projected. Of the 94 lines under traffic, 45 were operating by virtue of national and 49 by provincial and state concessions. They were grouped in the official reports of 1905 as follows:--

Government lines (21):-- Miles. Administered by the state (6) 2228 Leased to private parties (15) 2174 ----- 4402 Private lines (24)-- With national interest guarantees (12) 1290 Without such guarantees (12) 815 ----- 2105 Private and state lines operated by virtue of state concessions, with and without interest guarantees (49) 4093 ------ 10,600 ======

The policy of the national government has been gradually to lease all its lines except the Estrada de Ferro Central do Brazil, which is retained for sentimental reasons. This great railway runs from the city of Rio de Janeiro westward to the city of Sao Paulo and northward into the interior of Minas Geraes, with a total length at the beginning of 1905 of 1002 m., and an extension of about 104 m. to Pirapora, on the Sao Francisco river. It was formerly known as the "E. de F. Dom Pedro II.," in honour of the sovereign who encouraged its construction. The main line has a gauge of 63 in. (1.60 m.) and affords an outlet for a number of inland metre-gauge lines. The first two sections of this great railway, which carry it across the coast range, were opened to traffic in 1858 and 1864. The series of trunk lines terminating at the port of Santos are owned by private companies and are formed by the Sao Paulo, Paulista and Mogyana lines, the first owned by an English company, and the other two by Brazilian companies. The Mogyana carries the system entirely across the state of Sao Paulo into the western districts of Minas Geraes. The principal trunk lines (the Sao Paulo and Paulista) have a broad gauge, while their extensions and feeders have a narrow gauge. The comparatively short lines extending inland from the ports of Sao Salvador (Bahia), Pernambuco, Maceio, Victoria and Paranagua serve only a narrow zone along the coast. To encourage the investment of private capital in the construction of railways, the general railway law of 1853 authorized the national government to grant guarantees of interest on the capital invested. Under this law companies were organized in England for building the Sao Paulo railway, and the lines running from Bahia and Pernambuco toward the Sao Francisco river. Political considerations also led to the construction of similar lines in the states of Rio Grande do Norte, Parahyba, Alagoas, Sergipe, Espirito Santo, Parana, Santa Catharina and Rio Grande do Sul. The result was that the national treasury became burdened with a heavy annual interest charge, payable abroad in gold, which did not tend to diminish, and had a long period to run before the expiration of the contracts. The government finally determined to take over these guaranteed lines from the foreign companies owning them, and a statement issued in October 1902 showed that 1335 m. had been acquired at a cost of L14,605,000 in bonds, the interest on which is L584,200 a year against an aggregate of L831,750 in interest guarantees which the government had been paying. In addition to this economy it was calculated that the lines could be leased for L132,000 a year. The loan finally issued in London to cover the purchase of these railways aggregated L16,619,320. All but three of these lines had been leased in 1905.

The use of tramways for the transportation of passengers in cities dates from 1868, when the first section of the Botanical Garden line of Rio de Janeiro was opened to traffic. The line was completed with its surplus earnings and continued under the control of the American company which built it until 1882, when it was sold to a Brazilian company. Subsequently the tramways of the city have been mostly concentrated in the hands of a single Canadian company. All the large cities of Brazil are liberally provided with tramways, those of the city of Sao Paulo, where electric traction is used, being noticeably good. The substitution of electricity for animal traction was begun in Sao Salvador in 1906. Mules are universally employed for animal traction, and narrow gauge lines with single-mule trams are generally used where the traffic is light.

Brazil is lamentably deficient in steamship communication considering its importance in a country where the centres of population are separated by such distances of coasts and river. Previous to the creation of the republic, the coastwise service was performed by two national companies (now united), and partially by foreign lines calling at two or more ports. A considerable number of foreign sailing vessels also carried on an important coasting trade. The coastwise service centres at Rio de Janeiro, from which port the Lloyd Brazileiro sends steamers regularly south to Montevideo, and north to Para and Manaos, calling at the more important intermediate ports. From Montevideo river steamers are sent up the Parana and Paraguay rivers to Corumba and Cuyaba, in the state of Matto Grosso. The company receives a heavy subsidy from the national government. Parts of this coastwise traffic are covered by other companies, two of which receive subsidies. There were also six lines of river steamers receiving subsidies from the national government in 1904, and the aggregate paid to these and the coastwise lines was 2,830,061 milreis. The largest of the river lines is the Amazon Steam Navigation Co. (an English corporation), whose service covers the main river and several of its principal tributaries. Two subsidized companies maintain services on the Sao Francisco river--one below the Paulo Affonso falls, and the other above, the latter covering 854 m. of navigable channel between Joazeiro and Pirapora. Besides these there are other companies engaged in the coasting and river traffic, either with subsidies from the state governments, as feeders for railway lines, or as private unsubsidized undertakings.

The telegraph lines, which date from 1852, are owned and operated by the national government, with the exception of the lines constructed by private railway companies, and the cable lines of the Amazon and the coast. The government lines extend from Para to the Argentine and Uruguayan frontiers, where they connect with the telegraph systems of those republics, and from Rio de Janeiro westward across country, in great part unsettled, to the capitals of Goyaz and Matto Grosso. At Para connexion is made with the cable laid in the bed of the Amazon to Manaos, which is owned and operated by a subsidized English company. At Vizeu, Para, connexion is made with a French cable to the West Indies and the United States, and at Pernambuco with two cable lines to Europe. A coastwise cable runs from Para to Montevideo with double cables between Pernambuco and Montevideo. There were in 1903 a total of 15,150 m. of land lines, with 29,310 m. of wire and 1102 telegraph offices. The government maintains reciprocal rates with most of the private railway lines.

The Brazilian postal service is under the general supervision of the minister of communications and public works, and is administered by a director-general. Owing to the size of the country and the sparsely-populated state of a large part of the interior, the transportation of the mails is attended with much difficulty and expense. Although the postal rates are high, the service is not self-sustaining, the receipts for 1904 being 7,018,344 milreis, against a total expenditure of 10,099,545 milreis. There were 2847 post offices (_agencias_), of which 2166 were of the 4th or lowest grade. Brazil is a member of the Postal Union, and like Argentina exacts higher nominal rates of postage upon outgoing mail than those agreed upon to cover the depreciation in her own currency. The letter rate was at first 200 reis (nearly 5-1/2 d.), but it has been increased to 300 reis, which is equivalent to 8 d. at par and 4-1/2 d. at 15 d. exchange. An inland parcel post was in operation long before the overthrow of the monarchy, and a similar service with Portugal has been successfully maintained for a number of years, notwithstanding the difficulties interposed by customs regulations. National and international money order systems are also in operation.

The constitution of Brazil provides that the coastwise trade shall be carried on by national vessels, but this provision did not go into effect until 1896. And even then, because of the insufficient number of Brazilian vessels it was provided in the regulations that foreign vessels could be enrolled in that trade by using the Brazilian flag and employing a certain proportion of Brazilians on the crew. One of the purposes of this restrictive provision was that of creating a national merchant marine, but the disinclination of Brazilians for maritime pursuits has been a serious obstacle to its realization. In 1901 the merchant navy included 228 steamers of 91,465 tons net, and 343 sailing vessels of 76,992 tons net. These vessels are all engaged in the coasting and river trade of the country. Efforts have been made, however, to engage in foreign trade, and subsidies were offered for a passenger and freight service to the United States. On the 23rd of February 1906 the government completed a new contract with the Lloyd Brazileiro Company for its coastwise and river service, and included clauses providing for a line to the United States. This foreign service (monthly) began in August 1906.

Although the coast of Brazil shows a large number of bays and tide-water river channels which are apparently suitable for commercial ports, a close examination of them reduces the number of good ports to less than a dozen. The others are either difficult of access, or are rendered practically useless by dangerous reefs, sand bars and shoals. Important improvements have been undertaken in some of these ports. Those at Santos and Manaos, for example, have produced good results. In many cases, as at Rio de Janeiro, Santos and Manaos, the cost and maintenance of the new port-works are met by an additional tax on merchandise, though the immediate expenditures are met by advances from the national treasury, and at Rio de Janeiro by a foreign loan.

_Commerce._--The imports, exports and domestic trade of Brazil are by reason of their magnitude and peculiar character the most important in South America, though the _per capita_ aggregate is less than that of Argentina. Although an agricultural country, Brazil does not produce all its own bread and meat, and the imports of wheat, wheat flour, rice, fish, jerked beef and preserved meats, lard, butter, beans, potatoes, packed fruits and vegetables, Indian corn and other food-stuffs, are surprisingly large. Since the creation of the republic, extreme protective measures have caused the creation of a large number of cotton factories and other manufactures, but these are able to supply only a part of the consumption, and the importation of cotton and woollen fabrics, silks, ready-made clothing, boots and shoes, &c., is large. Modern industrial development in some of the states has greatly increased the importation of machinery, electric supplies, materials for construction, coal, &c. Kerosene oil also figures among the principal imports, and beef cattle are imported for consumption by some cities. The exports cover a wide range of agricultural, pastoral and natural productions, including coffee, rubber, sugar, cotton, cocoa, Brazil nuts, _mate_ (Paraguay tea), hides, skins, fruits, gold, diamonds, manganese ore, cabinet woods and medicinal leaves, roots and resins. Coffee and rubber, however, represent from 80 to 90% of the official valuation of all exports. High import duties are imposed by the national government and export duties by the states. The exchange of domestic products between the states is greatly restricted through lack of cheap transportation facilities, and by the suicidal imposition of import and export duties by the states, either for revenue or for the protection of home industries.

According to a summary for the six years 1901 to 1906, derived from official sources and published in the annual _Retrospecto_ of the _Jornal do Commercio_, of Rio de Janeiro, the values of the imports and exports for those years (exclusive of coin), reduced to pounds sterling at the average rate of exchange (or value of one milreis) for each year, were as follows:--

+------+-----------+------------+-------------+ | | Average | | | | Year.| Value of | Imports in | Exports in | | |the Milreis|Pounds Ster.| Pounds Ster.| | | in Pence. | | | +------+-----------+------------+-------------+ | | | L | L | | 1901 | 11.33 | 21,377,270 | 40,621,993 | | 1902 | 11.93 | 23,279,418 | 36,437,456 | | 1903 | 11.99 | 24,207,811 | 36,883,175 | | 1904 | 12.22 | 25,915,423 | 39,430,136 | | 1905 | 15.94 | 29,830,050 | 44,643,113 | | 1906 | 16.17 | 33,204,041 | 53,059,480 | +------+-----------+------------+-------------+

Nearly 76-1/2% of the exports of 1906 were of coffee and rubber, the official valuations of these being: coffee 245,474,525 milreis gold (L27,615,884), and rubber (including manicoba and mangabeira), 124,941,433 milreis gold (L14,055,911).

Brazil is essentially an agricultural country. No other country has been able to equal Brazil in the production of coffee, and under better labour conditions the country might compete with the foremost in the production of cane sugar, cotton and tobacco. Besides these it might easily excel in producing many of the tropical fruits for which there is a commercial demand. During the colonial period sugar cane was cultivated from Parahyba S. to the vicinity of Santos, and sugar was the principal export of the colony. Before the middle of the 19th century coffee became one of the leading exports, and its cultivation in the states of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Geraes has been so increased since that time that it represents over four-fifths in value of the total export of agricultural produce. The principal sugar-producing states are Alagoas, Sergipe, Pernambuco, Bahia and Rio de Janeiro, and the production is between 200,000 and 300,000 tons, the greater part of which is consumed in the country. Cotton has been widely cultivated since early colonial days, principally in the northern Atlantic states. Tobacco is also widely cultivated, and the product of some states, such as Bahia, Minas Geraes and Goyaz, has a high local reputation for its excellence. Cacau (cocoa) is cultivated extensively in the Amazon Valley and along the coast as far south as southern Bahia, and forms one of the leading exports. In 1906 Sao Paulo offered premiums for its cultivation in the state. Rice has been cultivated in places, but without much success, although the quality produced compared favourably with the imported article. Indian corn grows luxuriantly everywhere, but it does not mature well in the humid regions of the Amazon region and the coast. The product of the elevated inland regions is good, but the costs of transportation and the small profits afforded have prevented its extensive cultivation, and it is imported from the La Plata republics for consumption along the coast. Much has been said in regard to the production of wheat, and efforts have been made in various places to promote its cultivation. It was once cultivated in Rio Grande do Sul with some success, and it has been grown in Minas Geraes and Sao Paulo, but in no case have the returns been sufficient to give it a permanent standing among the productions of the country. The great majority of the people are unused to wheaten bread, using the coarse flour of the mandioca root instead, consequently the demand for wheat and flour is confined to the large cities, which can obtain them from Argentina more cheaply than they can be produced in the country. One of the most common and important productions of Brazil is _mandioca_ (_Manihot_), of which there are two well-known species, _M. utilissima_ and _M. aipi_. The first named, which is poisonous in its native state, is the _cassava_ of Spanish America. From it is made _farinha de mandioca_, which is the bread of the common people of Brazil, and tapioca. The poison is extracted by soaking the bruised or grated roots in water, after which the coarse flour is roasted. Mandioca was cultivated by the natives before the discovery of America, and the wide area over which it has been distributed warrants the conclusion that the discovery of its value as a food and the means of separating its poisonous properties must have occurred at a very remote period. The peanut, or ground-nut (_Arachis hypogaea_), is another widely-cultivated plant, dating from pre-Columbian times. Very little attention has thus far been given to the cultivation of fruit for exportation, the exceptions being bananas for the Argentine and Uruguayan markets, and oranges and pineapples for European markets. The coast region from Ceara to Rio de Janeiro is adapted to the cultivation of a great variety of fruits of a superior quality. Ceara, Bahia, and Rio de Janeiro are celebrated for their oranges, and Pernambuco for its delicious pineapples. Tangerines, lemons, limes, grapes, guavas, figs, cashews or cajus (_Anacardium occidentale_), mangabas (_Hancornia speciosa_), joboticabas (_Eugenia cauliflora_ and _E. jaboticaba_, Mart.), cocoa-nuts, mangos, _fruitas de conde_ (_Anona squamosa_), plantains, &c. are produced in abundance and with little labour. In some parts of southern Brazil the fruits and vegetables of the temperate zone do well, but within the tropics they thrive well only at a considerable elevation above sea-level. Apples, peaches, quinces, raspberries, strawberries, &c., are produced under such conditions, but the flavour of their kind grown in colder climates is usually wanting. The vegetable productions are less numerous, but they include sweet potatoes, cabbages, cauliflower, lettuce, beans, peas, onions, garlic, tomatoes, okra, radishes, cucumbers, couve, chuchu (_Sechium edule_), and aipim (_Manihot aipi_). The white potato, known as "batata inglez" (English potato), is grown in elevated localities, but it deteriorates so greatly after the first planting that fresh imported seed is necessary every second or third year.

The pastoral industries, which date from early colonial times, have suffered many vicissitudes, and their development has failed to keep pace with the country's growth in population. Horses are used to some extent for riding, but very little for carriage and draught purposes, consequently there has been no great incentive for their breeding. They are largely used and raised in Rio Grande do Sul, but in the warmer regions of the north only to a limited extent. The hardier mules are generally employed for draught, carriage, and saddle purposes in every part of the country, and their breeding is a lucrative industry in the southern states. Cattle-raising is the principal industry in Rio Grande do Sul, and receives considerable attention in Minas Geraes, Matto Grosso, Santa Catharina, Parana, Piauhy and Rio Grande do Norte. It was estimated that there were 30,000,000 head of cattle in the republic in 1904, but the estimate was unquestionably too large. A very large part of the jerked beef consumed in Brazil is imported from Argentina and Uruguay, and some beef cattle also are imported. These importations at Rio de Janeiro in 1906 were 12,464,170 kilograms of jerked beef and 12,575 head of cattle. In the Rio Branco region of Amazonas and in Piauhy, where the national government has long been the owner of extensive cattle ranges, the industry is in a state of decadence. This is partly due to such pests as the vampire bat and bush ticks (_carrapatos_), and partly to the unprogressiveness of the cattlemen. Cattle-raising was once a flourishing industry on the island of Marajo, at the mouth of the Amazon, and it is followed to some extent at Alemquer and other points along the Amazon, but the cattle are small, and commonly in bad condition. In southern Bahia the industry has been nearly extinguished through increasing aridity and droughts, but in the state of Rio de Janeiro the planters are increasing their herds. Minas Geraes produces cheese, butter and milk, as well as beef cattle for neighbouring cities. Matto Grosso classifies cattle-raising as a principal industry, but under present conditions the accessible markets are too small for any large development. In Rio Grande do Sul, where it has attained its greatest development, about 400,000 beeves are slaughtered annually for the manufacture of jerked beef (_xarque_), beef extract, &c. Little attention has been given to sheep in Brazil except in the southern states, and even there the flocks are small. They were to be found in Ceara and Piauhy in colonial times, and small flocks are still to be seen in the latter state, but no use is made of their wool, and the market for mutton is extremely limited because of popular prejudices. Woollen manufactures have been established in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul. The exportation of wool amounted to 1,130,160 lb. in 1906. Goats have been found highly profitable in many of the middle Atlantic states, where the long dry seasons render the campos unsuitable for cattle pasturage. The export of goat skins from these states is large. Swine do well in all parts of the country, especially in Minas Geraes, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Parana and Rio Grande do Sul, and domestic pork and lard are slowly supplanting the heavily-taxed foreign products.

Although the coast and river fisheries of Brazil are numerous and valuable, cured fish is one of the staple imports, and foreign products are to be found even along the Amazon. In the Amazon valley fish is a principal article of food, and large quantities of _pirarucu_ (_Sudis gigas_) are caught during the season of low water and prepared for storage or market by drying in the sun. This and the collection of turtle eggs for their oil, or butter, are chiefly Indian industries, and contribute largely to the support of the native population of that region. Along the coast the best known fisheries are among the Abrolhos islands and in the shallow waters of Espirito Santo, where the garoupa, pargo and vermelho (species of _Serranus_) abound in great numbers.

The extractive or forest industries of Brazil were among the first to engage the attention of Europeans, and have always been considered a principal source of colonial and national wealth. The varied uses of india-rubber in modern times, however, have given them a greatly enhanced importance and value. Of the exports of 1905, 36% were of this class, while those of the pastoral and mining industries combined were not quite 6-1/2%. In 1906 the percentages were 31 and 6.67, showing a considerable loss for the former and a slight gain for the latter. The principal products of this class are india-rubber, mate, Brazil nuts, vegetable wax, palm fibre, cabinet woods, and medicinal leaves, roots, resins, &c. Before the discovery of the cheaper aniline colours, dye-woods were among the most valuable products of the country; in fact, Brazil derives her name from that of a dye-wood (Brazil-wood--_Caesalpinia echinata_), known as _bresill, brasilly, bresilji, braxilis_, or _brasile_ long before the discovery of America (see Humboldt's _Geographic du nouveau continent_, tom. ii. p. 214), which for many generations was the most highly prized of her natural productions. Of the total exports of this group (1905) very nearly 90% was of india-rubber, which percentage was reduced to 85 in the following year. The exportation for 1906 was 69,761,123 lb. of Hevea, 5,871,968 lb. of manicoba, and 1,440,131 lb. of mangabeira rubber, the whole valued at 124,941,433 milreis gold. The dried leaves and smaller twigs of mate (Paraguayan tea--_Ilex paraguayensis_) are exported to the southern Spanish American republics, where (as in Rio Grande do Sul) the beverage is exceedingly popular. The export in 1906 amounted to 127,417,950 lb., officially valued at 16,502,881 milreis gold. The collection of Brazil nuts along the Amazon and its tributaries is essentially a poor man's industry, requiring no other plant than a boat. The harvest comes in January and February, in the rainy season, and the nut-gatherers often come one or two hundred miles in their boats to the best forests. The nuts are the fruit of the _Bertholletia excelsa_, one of the largest trees of the Amazon forest region, and are enclosed, sixteen to eighteen in number, in a hard, thick pericarp. Another nut-producing tree is the _sapucaia_ (_Lecythis ollaria_), whose nuts are enclosed in a larger pericarp, and are considered to be better flavoured than those first described. The crop is a variable one, the export in 1905 having been 198,226 hectolitres, while that of 1906 was 96,770 hectolitres. It could undoubtedly be largely increased. Vegetable wax, which is an excellent substitute for beeswax, is a product of the _carnahuba_ palm (_Copernicia cerifera_), and is an important export from Ceara. Palm, or piassava fibre, derived from the _piassava_ palm, is used in the manufacture of brooms, brushes, &c. It is found as far south as southern Bahia, and the export could be very largely increased. The export of cabinet woods is not large, considering the forest area of Brazil and the variety and quality of the woods. This is principally due to the cost and difficulties of transporting timbers to the coast. The export is confined principally to rosewood. Of the medicinal plants, the best-known products are ipecacuanha, sarsaparilla, copaiba, jaborandi and cinchona, but this is only a part of the list. Besides these, tonka beans, anatto, vanilla, and castor-oil seeds form a part of the exports.

The mineral exports are surprisingly small. Gold was discovered by the Portuguese soon after their settlement of the coast in the 16th century, but the washings were poor and attracted little attention. The richer deposits of Minas Geraes were discovered about 1693, and those of Matto Grosso early in the following century. Abandoned placer mines are to be found in every part of the unsettled interior, showing how thoroughly it had been explored by gold-hunters in those early days. Some good mines, like Morro Velho and the abandoned Gongo Soco, have been developed in Minas Geraes, but the great majority are small and not very productive. Diamonds were discovered in Minas Geraes, near the town now called Diamantina, during the first half of the 18th century, the dates given ranging from 1725 to 1746, but the productiveness of the district has greatly decreased. Diamonds have also been found in Bahia, Goyaz and Parana. Other precious stones found in Brazil are the topaz, ruby aquamarine, tourmaline, chrysoberyl, garnet and amethyst. Among the minerals are silver, platinum, copper, iron, lead, manganese, chromium, quicksilver, bismuth, arsenic and antimony, of which only iron and manganese have been regularly mined. The copper deposits of Minas Geraes are said to be promising. Manganese is mined in Minas Geraes for export. Iron ores have been found in most of the states, and are especially abundant in Minas Geraes. The Ypanema mine and ironworks, near Sorocaba, Sao Paulo, which belong to the national government, have been in operation since 1810 and small charcoal forges were in operation in colonial times and supplied the mines with a considerable part of the iron needed by them. Many of the richer deposits have never been developed because of a lack of fuel and limestone. Bituminous coal of an inferior quality is mined to a limited extent in Rio Grande do Sul, and another mine has been opened in Santa Catharina. These coal deposits extend from Rio Grande do Sul north into the state of Sao Paulo. Salt, which does not figure in the list of exports, is produced along the coast between Pernambuco and Cape St Roque. The annual production is about 240,000 tons.

To illustrate the comparative productiveness and relationship of these sources of national wealth and industry, the following official returns of export for the years 1905 and 1906 are arranged in the four general classes previously discussed, the values being in Brazilian gold milreis, worth 2s. 3d. or 54.6 cents to the milreis:--

_Agricultural._

1905. 1906. Milreis, gold. Milreis, gold.

Coffee . . . . . 190,404,576 245,474,525 Cotton . . . . . 10,290,790 14,726,492 Cacau . . . . . 9,240,313 12,323,922 Tobacco . . . . . 7,335,163 8,283,150 Sugar . . . . . 3,608,476 5,388,596 Bran[7] . . . . . 1,490,312 1,128,761 Cottonseed . . . . 964,074 1,084,742 Mandioca flour . . . 692,079 789,913 Fruits . . . . . 606,678 714,332 Castor-oil seeds . . . 214,016 333,250 ----------- ----------- 224,846,477 290,247,683

_Natural and Forest._

Rubber: Mangabeira . . . 1,286,672 1,376,014 Manicoba . . . . 7,418,559 7,335,870 Hevea (Para) . . . 119,434,947 116,229,549 Mate (Paraguay tea) . . 11,088,108 16,502,881 Brazil nuts . . . . 2,064,049 1,190,177 Palm wax (Carnahuba) . . 1,847,273 3,733,478 Cabinet woods . . . 390,070 318,873 Piassaya fibre . . . 336,668 347,323 Medicinal leaves, roots, resins, &c. . . . 191,534 263,137 ----------- ----------- 143,331,142 147,297,302

_Pastoral and Animal._

Salted hides . . . . 7,010,498 9,691,180 Dry hides . . . . 5,330,440 7,675,715 Skins. . . . . . 4,117,590 4,639,512 Horse hair . . . . 307,505 403,541 Horns . . . . . 276,172 277,488 Wool . . . . . . 142,414 354,045 Beef extract, &c . . . 81,607 110,925 ---------- ---------- 17,266,226 23,152,406

_Mineral Products._

Gold, in bars . . . 3,734,469 4,379,160 Manganese ore . . . 2,958,462 1,594,486 Monazite sand . . . 889,231 881,289 Precious stones . . . 633,916 1,480,260 --------- --------- 8,216,078 8,335,195

_Miscellaneous._

Old metals[8]. . . . 263,506 382,073 Sundry products . . . 2,177,512 2,225,163 --------- --------- 2,441,018 2,607,236 ----------- ----------- Total, all products . . 396,827,679 471,639,822

_Manufactures._--Before the establishment of the republic very little attention had been given to manufacturing industries beyond what was necessary to prepare certain crude products for market. Sugar and rum were essentially plantation products down to the last ten years of the empire, when central usines using improved machinery and methods were introduced as a means of saving the sugar plantations from ruin. The crude methods of preparing jerked beef were also modified to some extent by better equipped abattoirs and establishments for preparing beef extract, preserved meats, &c. There were also mills for crushing the dried mate leaves, cigar and cigarette factories, small chocolate factories, hat factories, brick and tile yards, potteries, tanneries, saddleries, and many other small industries common to all large communities. Considerable protection was afforded to many of these industries by the customs tariff of that time, but protection did not become an acknowledged national policy until after 1889. After that time the duties on imports were repeatedly and largely increased, both as a means of raising larger revenues and as an encouragement to manufacturing enterprise. Although the protective tariffs thus imposed have resulted in a large increase in manufacturing industries, some of them have been antagonistic to the productive interests of the country, as in the case of weaving mills which use imported yarns. Other industries are carried on entirely with imported materials, and are national only in name. Among these are flour mills, factories for the cutting of wire nails and making hollow ware from sheet iron, and factories for the manufacture of umbrellas, boots and shoes, &c. The greatest progress has been made in the manufacture of cotton fabrics, principally of the plainer and coarser grades used by the common people. There were 155 of these factories in 1895, but in 1905 only 108 were in operation, with 715,000 spindles, and about 37,000 operatives. Nearly one-half of these were weaving mills, using imported yarn. The factories are widely distributed, and some are favoured by state legislation in addition to the national tariff. The largest and best equipped of them are located in the federal states of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, though the greater part of the raw cotton used comes from the northern states and pays high freight rates. The manufacture of woollen blankets, cashmeres, flannels, &c., had also undergone noteworthy development and is carried on in fifteen factories, located principally in Rio Grande do Sul, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Biscuit-making is represented by a large number of factories, for the most part in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, and there are a number of breweries of the most modern type in the same two states. The manufacture of boots and shoes has also received much attention, but the materials used are for the most part imported. Among other manufactures are butter and cheese, canned fruits and vegetables, glass and earthenware, printing and wrapping paper, furniture, matches, hats, clothing, pharmaceutical products, soaps and perfumery, ice, artificial drinks, cigars and cigarettes, fireworks and candles.

_Government._--The overthrow of the monarchy by a military revolt in Rio de Janeiro on 15th November 1889, resulted in the creation of a federal republic under the name of United States of Brazil (Estados Unidos do Brazil). The constitution under which the republic is governed was drafted by a constituent assembly convened on the 15th of November 1890, and was adopted on the 24th of February 1891. The supreme powers of the nation are vested in three partially independent branches of government--executive, legislative, and judicial--represented by the president and his cabinet, a national congress of two chambers, and a supreme tribunal. The states forming the federation consist of the twenty provinces and municipal district of the empire, but the number may be increased or diminished by the states concerned with the approval of the national congress. The states are self-governed, and have exclusive control of the public lands, mines, industries, and all local affairs. They have the sole right also to impose duties on exports and taxes upon real estate, industries and professions, and transfers of property. Among other things they are charged with the supervision and support of primary education, with the maintenance of order, and with the organization and support of a system of state courts. Both the national and state governments exercise the right to impose stamp and consumption taxes, and the municipalities likewise are permitted to impose licence and consumption taxes. The national government reserves for itself the exclusive right to direct the foreign affairs of the republic, to maintain an army and navy, to impose duties on imports, to regulate foreign commerce, to collect port dues, to issue money and create banks of issue, and to maintain a postal and national telegraph service. It also supervises secondary and superior education, issues patents, and provides federal courts for the trial of cases amenable to federal laws. The national government is forbidden to interfere in the peculiar affairs of the states except to repel foreign invasion, to maintain a republican form of government, to re-establish order at the request of a state, or to enforce federal laws and sentences. The states are forbidden, likewise, to tax federal property, to tax inter-state commerce, to impose duties of their own on foreign imports, or to resist the execution of judicial sentences originating in other states. The separation of church and state is provided for by the constitution, and both the nation and the states are forbidden to establish, subsidize or restrict the exercise of any religious worship. Foreigners are eligible to Brazilian citizenship, and the right of suffrage is conferred upon all male citizens over twenty-one years of age, except beggars, illiterates, the rank and file of the armed forces, members of monastic orders, &c., bound by private vows, and all unregistered citizens.

The executive power of the nation is vested in a president, elected for a term of four years by a direct vote of the electors. He must be a native Brazilian over thirty-five years of age, in the full enjoyment of his political rights, and is ineligible for the next succeeding term. A vice-president is elected at the same time and under the same conditions, who is president of the senate _ex officio_, and succeeds to the presidency in case the office becomes vacant during the last two years of the presidential term. Should the vacancy occur during the first two years of the term, a new election must be held. The president receives a salary of 120,000 milreis and the vice-president of 36,000 milreis. The president is advised and assisted by a cabinet of six ministers, viz. foreign affairs; finance; agriculture, industry and commerce;[9] communications (_Viacao_) and public works;[9] war; and marine. The ministers are appointed and removed by the president, take no part in the sessions of congress, and are responsible to the president alone for their advisory acts. The president sanctions and promulgates, or vetoes, or ignores the laws, and resolutions voted by congress, and issues decrees and regulations for their execution. His veto may be over-ridden by a two-thirds vote in each chamber, and permitting ten days to pass without signing an act is considered as acquiescence and it is promulgated by congress. The president is charged with the duties (among others) of commanding the armed forces of the republic, appointing the prefect of the national capital, designating members of the supreme tribunal and diplomatic representatives for the approval of the senate, to negotiate treaties, &c., _ad referendum_ to congress, and maintain relations with foreign powers, to declare war in case of invasion and to declare martial law in case of grave internal disorder, and to advise congress at the opening of the annual session of the progress and state of public affairs. He may be impeached before the senate for his official acts and suspended from office, or tried by the supreme tribunal for criminal offences.

The legislative power is vested in a national congress of two chambers, elected by direct suffrage, and convened on the 3rd of May each year. The regular annual sessions are of four months' duration, but they may be extended to complete necessary legislation. The senate consists of sixty-three members (three from each state and the federal district) elected for a period of nine years, one-third of each delegation being renewed every three years. The senators must be not less than thirty-five years of age, and are exempt from all legal processes not previously authorized by the senate during their term of office, except in cases of arrest _in flagrante delicto_ for a capital crime. The chamber of deputies contains 212 members, the membership being distributed among the states on a basis of one for each 70,000 of population, but with a minimum representation of four for each state. The deputies are elected by direct suffrage for the legislative session of three years, and have the same immunities from legal process as the senators. The chamber has the right of initiative in the organization of the annual budget laws and those relative to the numerical strength of the army and navy. The members of both houses receive a _per diem_ subsidy.

The judicial system of the republic consists of a supreme federal tribunal of fifteen judges in the national capital, and a district tribunal in the capital of each state, which forms a federal judicial district. The judges are appointed for life and can be removed only by judicial sentence and impeachment. One member of the supreme tribunal holds the position of solicitor-general of the republic. The judges and solicitor-general are appointed by the president with the approval of the senate, but the tribunal chooses its own presiding officers and secretaries and, nominally, is independent of executive control. The supreme tribunal has original and appellate jurisdiction, but its power to pass on the constitutionality of federal laws and executive acts seems to fall short of that of the United States Supreme Court. It has authority, however, to review the acts and laws of state governments and to decide upon their constitutionality. The district federal court has but one judge (_juiz de seccao_) and a solicitor of the republic, and has original jurisdiction in federal causes. Each state has its own local laws and courts, independent of federal control, but subject to the review of the supreme tribunal, and with rights of appeal to that tribunal in specified cases. The federal district, which has a municipal council instead of a legislature, has a system of municipal and higher courts peculiar to itself. Limited judicial powers are exercised by chiefs of police, and by certain department commissions, or boards, of an executive character. The members of the army and navy are governed by special laws, enjoy immunities from civil process, and are subject to the jurisdiction of military courts. The civil code of the republic is based upon Roman law.

_Army._--The nominal strength of the army in 1906 was 29,489, including the officers of the general and subordinate staffs and the officers and cadets of the military schools. This total represents the nominal strength of the army in times of peace. Its actual strength, however, is about 15,000 men, some of the regimental and battalion organizations being skeletons. Its organization consists of 40 battalions of infantry with one transport and one depot company, 14 regiments of cavalry of 4 squadrons each, 6 regiments of field artillery with 24 batteries and 6 battalions of heavy artillery with 24 batteries, and two battalions of engineers. Efforts to organize a national guard have been unsuccessful, although officers have been appointed and the organization perfected, on paper. The police force, however, is organized on a military footing and armed, and is available for service in case of necessity. It is credited with 20,000 men. According to law military service is obligatory, but the government has been unable to enforce it. Impressment is commonly employed to fill the ranks, and in cases of emergency the prison population is drawn upon for recruits. The president is nominally commander-in-chief of the army, but the actual command is vested in a general staff in the national capital, and in the general commanding each of the seven military districts into which the republic is divided. The most important of these districts is that of Rio Grande do Sul, where a force of 11,226 men is stationed. The principal war arsenal is in Rio de Janeiro. The rifle used by the infantry is a modified Mauser of the German 1888 model. Military instruction is given at the Eschola Militar of Rio de Janeiro. The military organization is provided with an elaborate code and systems of military courts, which culminate in a supreme military tribunal composed of 15 judges holding office for life, of which 8 are general army officers, 4 general naval officers and 3 civil judges.

_Navy._--The naval strength of the republic consisted in 1906 of a collection of armoured and wooden vessels of various ages and types of construction, of which three armoured vessels (including the two designed for coast defence), four protected cruisers, five destroyers and torpedo-cruisers, and half a dozen torpedo boats represented what may be termed the effective fighting force. The loss of the armoured turret ship "Aquidaban" by a magazine explosion in the bay of Jacarepagua, near Rio de Janeiro, in 1905, had left Brazil with but one fighting vessel (the "Reachuelo") of any importance. Many of the wooden and iron vessels listed in the Naval Annual, 1906, though obsolete and of no value whatever as fighting machines, are used for river and harbour service, and in the suppression of trifling insurrections. The Annual describes 21 vessels of various types, and mentions 23 small gunboats used for river and harbour service. Besides these there are a number of practice boats (small school-ships), transports, dispatch boats and launches. A considerable part of the armament is old, but the more modern vessels are armed with Armstrong rifled guns. The naval programme of the republic for 1905 provided for the prompt construction of 3 battleships of the largest displacement, 3 armoured cruisers, 6 destroyers, 12 torpedo boats and 3 submarine boats; and by 1909 the reorganization of the navy was far advanced. The principal naval arsenal is located at Rio de Janeiro. The government possesses dry docks at Rio de Janeiro. The naval school, which has always enjoyed a high reputation among Brazilians, is situated on the island of Enxadas in the bay of Rio de Janeiro. There are smaller arsenals at Para, Pernambuco, Sao Salvador and Ladario (Matto Grosso) and a shipbuilding yard of considerable importance at the Rio de Janeiro arsenal.

_Education._--Education is in a backward condition, and it is estimated that 80% of the population can neither read nor write. The lowest rate of illiteracy is to be found in the southern half of the republic. Public instruction, is, by constitutional provision, under secular control, but religious denominations are permitted to have their own schools. Primary instruction is free but not compulsory, and the schools are supported and supervised by the states. An incomplete return in 1891 gave 8793 schools and 376,399 pupils. Secondary and higher education are under both federal and state control, the former being represented by lyceums in the state capitals, and by such institutions as the Gymnasio Nacional (formerly Collegio Dom Pedro II.) in Rio de Janeiro. Many of the states also maintain normal schools of an inferior type, that of Sao Paulo being the best and most modern of the number. Higher, or superior, instruction is confined almost exclusively to professional schools--the medical schools of Rio de Janeiro and Bahia, the law schools of Sao Paulo and Pernambuco, the polytechnic of Rio de Janeiro, and the school of mines of Ouro Preto. There are many private schools in all the large cities, from the primary schools maintained by the church and various corporations and religious associations to schools of secondary and collegiate grades, such as the Protestant mission schools of Petropolis, Piracicaba, Juiz de Fora, Sao Paulo and Parana, the Lyceu de Artes e Ofiicios (night school) of Rio de Janeiro, and the Mackenzie College of Sao Paulo. Perhaps the best educational work in Brazil is done in these private schools. In addition to these there are a number of seminaries for the education of priests, where special attention is given to the classics and belles-lettres.

_Religion._--The revolution of 1889 and the constitution adopted in 1891 not only effected a radical change in the form of government, but also brought about the separation of church and state. Before that time the Roman Catholic Church had been recognized and supported by the state. Not only are the national and state governments forbidden by the constitution to establish or subsidize religious worship, but its freedom is guaranteed by a prohibition against placing obstructions upon its exercise. The relations of the state with the disestablished church since 1889 have been somewhat anomalous, the government having decided to continue during their lives the stipends of the church functionaries at the time of disestablishment. The census of 1890 divided the population into 14,179,615 Roman Catholics, 143,743 Protestants, 3300 of all other faiths, 7257 of no religious profession, and 600,000 unchristianized Indians. The increase of population through immigration is overwhelmingly Catholic, and the nation must, therefore, continue Roman Catholic whether the church is subsidized by the state or not. The moral character of churchmen in Brazil has been severely criticized by many observers, and the ease with which disestablishment was effected is probably largely due to their failings. The church had exercised a preponderating influence in all matters relating to education and the social life of the people, and it was felt that no sweeping reforms could be secured until its domination had been broken. The immediate results of disestablishment were civil marriage, the civil registry of births and deaths, and the secularization of cemeteries; but the church retains its influence over all loyal churchmen through the confessional, the last rites of the church, and their sentiment against the profanation of holy ground. Formerly Brazil constituted an ecclesiastical province under the metropolitan jurisdiction of an archbishop residing at Bahia, with 11 suffragan bishops, 12 vicars-general and about 2000 curates. In 1892 the diocese of Rio de Janeiro was made an archbishopric, and four new dioceses were created. Three more have been added since, making twenty dioceses in all. In 1905 the archbishop of Rio de Janeiro was made a cardinal. The church has eleven seminaries for the education of priests, and maintains a large number of private schools, especially for girls, which are patronized by the better classes. The church likewise exercises a far-reaching influence over the people through the beneficent work of its lay orders, and through the hospitals and asylums under its control in every part of the country. A Misericordia hospital is to be found in almost every town of importance, and _recolhimentos_ for orphan girls in all the large cities. In no country have these charities received more generous support than in Brazil. The Protestant contingent consists of a number of small congregations scattered throughout the country, a few Portuguese Protestants from the Azores, a part of the German colonists settled in the central and southern states, and a large percentage of the North Europeans and Americans temporarily resident in Brazil. The Positivists are few in number, but their congregations are made up of educated and influential people.

_Art, Science and Literature._--The Brazilian people have the natural taste for art, music and literature so common among the Latin nations of the Old World. The emperor Dom Pedro II. did much to encourage these pursuits, and many promising young men received their education in Europe at his personal expense. Still earlier in the century (1815) the regent Dom John VI. brought out a number of French artists to educate his subjects in the fine arts, and the _Escola Real de Sciencias, Artes e Officios_ was founded in the following year. From this beginning resulted the _Academia de Bellas Artes_ of a later date, to which was added a conservatory of music in 1841. The institution is now called the _Escola Nacional de Bellas Artes_. Free instruction in the fine arts has been given in this school. The higher results of artistic training, however, are less marked than a widespread dilettantism. The Brazilian composer Carlos Gomes (1839-1896) is the best known of those who have adopted music as a profession, his opera _Il Guarani_ having been produced at most of the European capitals. The most prominent among Brazilian painters is Pedro Americo, and in sculpture Rodolpho Bernardelli has done good work. In science Brazil has accomplished very little, although many eminent foreign naturalists have spent years of study within her borders. Joao Barbosa Rodrigues has done some good work in botany, especially in the study of the palms of the Amazon, and Joao Baptista de Lacerda has made important biological investigations at the national museum of Rio de Janeiro. There are several scientific societies and institutions in the country, but they rarely undertake original work. The most active are the geographical societies, but very little has been done in the direction of scientific exploration. Some interesting results have been obtained from the boundary surveys, from Dr E. Cruls's exploration of a section of the Goyaz plateau in 1892 in search of a site for the future capital of the republic, and from some of the river and railway surveys. In 1875 a geological commission was organized under the direction of Professor Charles Frederick Hartt, but it was disbanded two years later. In 1906 Congress resolved to undertake a national geological survey under the direction of Mr Orville A. Derby, one of Professor Hartt's assistants. The coal resources of the southern states were investigated in 1904, under the auspices of the national government, by Dr J.C. White, of the U.S. Geological Survey, who found strata of fairly good coal at depths of 100 to 200 ft. extending from Rio Grande do Sul north to Sao Paulo. The more important contributions to our present knowledge of Brazil, however, have been obtained through the labours of foreign naturalists. Beginning with the German mineralogist W.L. von Eschwege, who spent nineteen years in Brazil (1809-1828), the list includes A. de Saint-Hilaire (1816-1820 and 1830), J.B. von Spix and C.F. von Martins (1817-1820), Prince Max zu Neuwied (1815-1817), P.W. Lund (1827-1830, and 1830 to 1880, the year of his death), George Gardner (1836-1841), A.R. Wallace (1848-1852), H.W. Bates (1848-1859), Hermann Burmeister (1850-1852), Louis Agassiz (1865-1866), Charles Frederick Hartt (1865-1866, 1872 and 1875-1878) and Karl von den Steinen (1884-1885 and 1887-1888). These explorations cover every branch of natural science and resulted in publications of inestimable scientific value. There should also be mentioned the monumental work of C.F.P. von Martius on the _Flora Braziliensis_, and the explorations of Agassiz and Lund. Among other scientists of a later date who have published important works on Brazil are the American geologists O.A. Derby and J.C. Branner, the Swiss naturalist E.A. Goeldi, the German botanist J. Huber, the German ethnologist H. von Ihring, and'the German geographer Fried. Katzer. The _Instituto Historico e Geographico Brazileiro_, though devoted chiefly to historical research, has rendered noteworthy service in its encouragement of geographical exploration and by its publication of various scientific memoirs. The Museu Nacional at Rio de Janeiro, which has occupied the imperial palace of Sao Christovao since the overthrow of the monarchy, contains large collections of much scientific value, but defective organization and apathetic direction have rendered them of comparatively slight service. The Observatorio Nacional at Rio de Janeiro is another prominent public institution. The botanical gardens of Brazil are developing into permanent exhibitions of the flora of the regions in which they are located. That of Rio de Janeiro is widely celebrated for its avenues of royal palms, but it has also rendered an important service to the country in the dissemination of exotic plants.

Brazilian literature has been seriously prejudiced by partisan politics and dilettantism. The colonial period was one of strict repression, the intellectual life of the people being jealously supervised by the church to protect itself against heresy, and their progress being restricted by the Portuguese crown to protect its monopoly of the natural resources of the country. The arrival of Dom John VI. in 1808 broke down some of these restrictions, and the first year of his residence in Rio de Janeiro saw the establishment of the first printing press in Brazil and the publication of an official gazette. There was no freedom of the press, however, until 1821, when the abolition of the censorship and the constitutional struggle in Portugal gave rise to a political discussion that marked the opening of a new era in the development of the nation, and aroused an intellectual activity that has been highly productive in journalistic and polemical writings. In no country, perhaps, has the press exercised a more direct and powerful influence upon government than in Brazil, and in no other country can there be found so high a percentage of journalists in official life. Some of the political writers have played an important part in moulding public opinion on certain questions, as in the case of A.C. Tavares Bastos, whose _Cartas do Solitario_ were highly instrumental in causing the Amazon to be thrown open to the world's commerce and also in preparing the way for the abolition of slavery; and in that of Joaquim Saldanha Marinho, whose discussions in 1874-1876 of the relations between church and state prepared the way for their separation. The personal element is conspicuous in the Brazilian journalism, and for a considerable period of its history libellous attacks on persons, signed by professional sponsors, popularly called _testas de ferro_ (iron heads), were admitted at so much a line in the best newspapers.

The singular adaptability of the Portuguese language to poetical expression, coupled with the imaginative temperament of the people, has led to an unusual production and appreciation of poetry. The percentage of educated men who have written little volumes of lyrics is surprisingly large, and this may be accounted for by the old Portuguese custom of reciting poetry with musical accompaniment. The most popular of the Brazilian poets are Thomaz Antonio Gonzaga, Antonio Goncalves Dias and Bernardo Guimaraes. Among the dramatists and novelists may be mentioned Joaquim Manoel de Macedo, Jose Martiniano de Alencar, Bernardo Guimaraes, A. de Escrangnolle Taunay and J.M. Machado de Assis. Jose M. de Alencar is usually described as the greatest of Brazilian novelists. The most popular of his romances are _Iracema_ and _O Guarany_. In historical literature Brazil has produced one writer of high standing--Francisco Adolpho Varnhagen (Visconde de Porto Seguro), whose _Historia Geral do Brazil_ is a standard authority on that subject. The two English authorities, Robert Southey's _History of Brazil_, covering the colonial period, and John Armitage's _History of Brazil_, covering the period between the arrival of the Braganza family (1808) and the abdication of Dom Pedro I. (1831), have been translated into Portuguese. Another Brazilian historian of recognized merit is Joao Manoel Pereira da Silva, whose historical writings cover the first years of the empire, from its foundation to 1840. Among the later writers Joao Capistrano de Abren has produced some short historical studies of great merit. In the field of philosophic speculation, Auguste Comte has had many disciples in Brazil.

_Finance._--The national revenue is derived largely from the duties on imports, the duties on exports having been surrendered to the states when the republic was organized. Other sources of revenue are stamp taxes on business transactions, domestic consumption taxes (usually payable in stamps) on manufactured tobaccos, beverages, boots and shoes, textiles, matches, salt, preserved foods, hats, pharmaceutical preparations, perfumeries, candles, vinegar, walking sticks and playing cards, and taxes on lotteries, passenger tickets, salaries and dividends of joint-stock companies. Formerly import duties were payable in currency, but in 1899 it was decided to collect 10% of them in gold to provide the government with specie for its foreign remittances. The revenues and expenditures have since then been calculated in gold and currency together, to the complete mystification of the average citizen, and the gold percentage of the duties on imports has been increased to 35 and 50% (in 1907), the higher rate to apply to specified articles and rule when exchange on London is above 14 pence per milreis, and the lower when it is below. The service of the national debt absorbs a very large part of the expenditure, about 45% of the estimates for 1907 being assigned to the department of finance. The department of industry, communications and public works takes the next highest proportion, but about half its expenditures are met by special taxes, as in the case of port works and railway inspection, and by the revenues of the state railways, telegraph lines and post office. The depreciation and unstable character of the paper currency render it difficult to give a clear statement of receipts and expenditures for a term of years, the sterling equivalents often showing a decrease, through a fall in the value of the milreis, where there has been an actual increase in currency returns. This was most noticeable between 1889 and 1898, when exchange, which represents the value of the milreis, fell from a maximum of 27-3/4 pence (27d. being the par value of the milreis) to a minimum of 5-5/8 pence. Since 1898 there has been an upward movement of exchange, the average rate for 1905 having been very nearly 16 pence. In this period the increase in the sterling equivalents would be proportionately greater than that of the currency values. The gold and currency receipts and expenditures for the six years 1900 to 1905, inclusive, according to official returns, were as follows:--

+------+---------+---------------------------+--------------------------+ | | Average | Revenue. | Expenditure. | | Year.| Rate of +-------------+-------------+------------+-------------+ | |Exchange.| Gold | Currency | Gold | Currency | | | Pence. | Milreis. | Milreis. | Milreis. | Milreis. | +------+---------+-------------+-------------+------------+-------------+ | 1900 | 9.50 | 49,955,522 | 263,687,253 | 41,892,150 | 372,753,986 | | 1901 | 11.38 | 44,041,302 | 239,284,702 | 40,493,241 | 261,629,212 | | 1902 | 11.97 | 42,904,844 | 266,584,912 | 34,574,643 | 236,458,862 | | 1903 | 12 | 45,121,844 | 327,370,063 | 48,324,642 | 291,198,960 | | 1904 | 12.28 | 50,566,572 | 342,782,191 | 48,476,413 | 352,292,147 | | 1905 | 15.89 | 64,207,004 | 243,355,396 | 51,606,272 | 265,699,281 | +------+---------+-------------+-------------+------------+-------------+

Reducing gold to a currency basis at 15d. per milreis (the official valuation adopted in 1906), the budget for 1907 provided for a revenue of 353,590,593 milreis and an expenditure of 409,482,284 milreis, showing a deficit of 55,891,691 milreis. These deficits were common enough under the monarchy, but they have become still more prominent under the republic. According to the "Retrospecto Commercial" for 1906 of the _Jornal do Commercio_ (Rio de Janeiro, March 5, 1907), the aggregate deficits for the eleven years 1891 to 1904 were 692,000,000 milreis, or, say, L43,250,000.

The natural result of such a regime is increasing indebtedness. In 1888, a year before the republic was proclaimed, the internal and external national debts amounted to L74,000,000 sterling, with the currency at par. Ten years later, when the currency had fallen to 5-5/8 pence per milreis, the government found itself unable to meet the interest obligations on its debt and railway guarantees, and an arrangement was made with its creditors in London for the issue of a 5% funding loan to an amount not to exceed L10,000,000, and the suspension of all amortization for thirteen years. On the other hand the government agreed to withdraw currency, which had reached a total of 788,364,614 1/2-milreis, _pari passu_ with the issue of the loan, the milreis being computed at 18 pence. The purpose of this condition was in order to improve the value of the paper milreis in order to increase the specie value of the revenues. The scheme came into operation in June 1898, and not only was a complete suspension of payments avoided but the financial situation was greatly improved. The government even withdrew more of its currency issues than required by the agreement, and the value of the milreis steadily improved. At the same time the government carried out the forced conversion of the national loans into lower interest-bearing issues, which greatly reduced the annual interest charges. These measures would have put the financial affairs of the nation on a solid footing in a very few years had the government been able to keep its expenditure within its income. The naval revolt of 1893-1894, however, had aroused the spirit of militarism in the ruling classes, and the effort to perfect the organization and equipment of the army, strengthen the fortifications of Rio de Janeiro, and increase the navy, have kept expenditures in excess of the revenues. The purchase of guaranteed railways owned by foreign companies likewise added largely to the bonded indebtedness, though the onus was in existence in another form. The result of these measures was a large addition to the public debt, which on 31st December 1906 was approximately as follows (_apolices_ being the name given to bonds inscribed to the holder):--

External debt: L s. d. Loans of 1883, 1888 and 1889. 26,478,500 Oestede Minas R.R. loan 3,388,100 Loan of 1898 7,331,600 Funding loan of 1898 8,613,717 9 9 Railway rescission loan of 1901 15,467,015 16 1 Port works loan of 1903 8,500,000 ------------------- L69,778,933 5 10 ===================

Internal debt, funded: Milreis 5 % apolices, Law of 1827 483,546,600 4-1/2% " " 1879 20,548,000 6 % " " 1897 37,082,000 5 % " " 1903 17,300,000 ----------- Total, funded 558,476,600 (at 15d. L34,904,787) ===========

Internal debt, not funded: Milreis Paper money 664,792,960 Savings bank and other deposits: In paper 246,812,407 In gold, 19,053,861 r (say) 34,296,950 Floating indebtedness (a/cs current, bills, &c.) ? ----------- Total, not funded, approx. 945,902,317 (at 15d. L59,118,895 stg.) ===========

Approximate total indebtedness L163,802,675

In addition to these, the government was still responsible for interest guarantees on fourteen railways, or sections of existing lines, with an aggregate capital of about L4,900,000 held in Europe and 12,055,440 milreis held in Brazil, on which the national treasury paid in interest L191,324 and 1,398,493 milreis.

The paper currency of Brazil consists of both treasury issues and bank-notes, the latter issued under government supervision. Its fluctuations in value have been not only a serious inconvenience in commercial transactions, but also the cause of heavy loss to the people. Under the provisions of the funding loan of 1898 a scheme for the withdrawal of the paper money was carried into effect, and by the end of December 1906 the amount in circulation had been reduced from 788,364,614 1/2-milreis (the outstanding circulation 31st August 1898) to 664,792,960 1/2-milreis. Two funds were created for the redemption and guarantee of paper issues, the latter receiving 5% of the import duties payable in gold. Up to 1906 the Caixa da Amortisacao (redemption bureau), which has charge of the service of the internal funded debt, superintended the redemption of the currency, but in that year (December 6, 1906) a Caixa de Conversao (conversion bureau) was created for this special service. It is modelled after the Argentine Conversion office, and is authorized to issue notes to bearer against deposits of gold at the rate of 15 pence per milreis although exchange was above 17d. when the scheme was proposed. The notes are to be redeemable in gold at sight, the Caixa de Conversao to keep the gold paid in for that express purpose. The coffee producers of Sao Paulo and other states found that the appreciation in value of the milreis was reducing their profits, and they advocated this measure (at first with a valuation of 12d.) to check the upward movement in exchange. Metallic money is limited to nickel and bronze coins, but in 1906 the government was authorized to purchase bar silver for the coinage of pieces of the denomination of two milreis, one milreis and 500 reis (1/2-milreis). Gold is the nominal standard of value, the monetary unit being the gold milreis worth 2s. 2-1/2d. at par. The 10-milreis gold piece weighs 8.9648 grammes, 916 fine, and contains 8.2178 grammes of pure gold. There is no gold in circulation, however, and gold duties are paid with gold cheques purchased at certain banks with paper money. The banking facilities of the republic have undergone many changes under the new regime. A fruitful cause of disaster has been the practice of issuing agricultural and industrial loans under government authorization. Commercial business at the principal ports is largely transacted through foreign banks, of which there are a large number.

In addition to the indebtedness of the national government, the individual states have also incurred funded debts of their own. The aggregate of these debts in 1904 was L20,199,440, and the several loans made during the next two years, including those of the municipalities of Rio de Janeiro, Santos, Bahia and Manaos, add fully two and a half millions more to the total. (A. J. L.)

HISTORY

The Portuguese in Brazil.

Brazil was discovered in February 1499 (o.s.) by Vicente Yanez Pinzon, a companion of Columbus. He descried the land near Cape St Augustine, and sailed along the coast as far as the river Amazon, whence he proceeded to the mouth of the Orinoco. He made no settlement, but took possession of the country in the name of the Spanish government, and carried home, as specimens of its natural productions, some drugs, gems and Brazil-wood. Next year the Portuguese commander, Pedro Alvares Cabral, appointed by his monarch to follow the course of Vasco da Gama in the East, was driven by adverse winds so far from his track, that he reached the Brazilian coast, April 24, and anchored in Porto Seguro (16 deg. S. lat.) on Good Friday. On Easter day an altar was erected, mass celebrated in presence of the natives, the country declared an apanage of Portugal, and a stone cross erected in commemoration of the event. Cabral despatched a small vessel to Lisbon to announce his discovery, and, without forming any settlement, proceeded to India on the 3rd of May. On the arrival of the news in Portugal, Emanuel invited Amerigo Vespucci to enter his service, and despatched him with three vessels to explore the country. The navigator's first voyage was unsuccessful; but, according to his own account, in a second he discovered a safe port, to which he gave the name of All-Saints and where he erected a small fort. Vespucci's narrative is, however, suspected of being apocryphal (see VESPUCCI, AMERIGO).

The poor and barbarous tribes of Brazil, and their country, the mineral riches of which were not immediately discovered, offered but few attractions to a government into the coffers of which the wealth of India and Africa was flowing. For nearly thirty years the kings of Portugal paid no further attention to their newly-acquired territory than what consisted, in combating the attempts of the Spaniards to occupy it, and dispersing the private adventurers from France who sought its shores for the purposes of commerce. The colonization of Brazil was prosecuted, however, by subjects of the Portuguese monarchy, who traded thither chiefly for Brazil-wood. The government also sought to make criminals of some use to the state, by placing them in a situation where they could do little harm to society, and might help to uphold the dominion of their nation.

First organization in Brazil.

The first attempt on the part of a Portuguese monarch to introduce an organized government into his dominions was made by John III. He adopted a plan which had been found to succeed well in Madeira and the Azores,--dividing the country into hereditary captaincies, and granting them to such persons as were willing to undertake their settlement, with unlimited powers of jurisdiction, both civil and criminal. Each captaincy extended along fifty leagues of coast. The boundaries in the interior were undefined. The first settlement made under this new system was that of Sao Vicente Piratininga, in the present province of Sao Paulo. Martim Affonso de Sousa, having obtained a grant, fitted out a considerable armament and proceeded to explore the country in person. He began to survey the coast about Rio de Janeiro, to which he gave that name, because he discovered it on the 1st of January 1531. He proceeded south as far as La Plata, naming the places he surveyed on the way from the days on which the respective discoveries were made. He fixed upon an island in 24-1/2 deg. S. lat., called by the natives Guaibe, for his settlement. The Goagnazes, or prevailing tribe of Indians in that neighbourhood, as soon as they discovered the intentions of the new-comers to fix themselves permanently there, collected for the purpose of expelling them. Fortunately, however, a shipwrecked Portuguese, who had lived many years under the protection of the principal chief, was successful in concluding a treaty of perpetual alliance between his countrymen and the natives. Finding the spot chosen for the new town inconvenient, the colonists removed to the adjoining island of Sao Vicente, from which the captaincy derived its name. Cattle and the sugar-cane were at an early period introduced from Madeira, and here the other captaincies supplied themselves with both.

Pero Lopes de Sousa received the grant of a captaincy, and set sail from Portugal at the same time as his brother, the founder of Sao Vicente. He chose to have his fifty leagues in two allotments. That to which he gave the name of Santo Amaro adjoined Sao Vicente, the two towns being only three leagues asunder. The other division lay much nearer to the line between Parahyba and Pernambuco. He experienced considerable difficulty in founding this second colony, from the strenuous opposition of a neighbouring tribe, the Petiguares; at length he succeeded in clearing his lands of them, but not long afterwards he perished by shipwreck.

Rio de Janeiro was not settled till a later period; and for a considerable time the nearest captaincy to Santo Amaro, sailing along the coast northwards, was that of Espirito Santo. It was founded by Vasco Fernandes Coutinho, who having acquired a large fortune in India, sank it in this scheme of colonization. He carried with him no less than sixty fidalgos. They named their town by anticipation, Our Lady of the Victory (Victoria); but it cost them some hard fighting with the Goagnazes to justify the title.

Pedro de Campo Tourinho, a nobleman and excellent navigator, received a grant of the adjoining captaincy of Porto Seguro. This, it will be remembered, is the spot where Cabral first took possession of Brazil. The Tupinoquins at first offered some opposition; but having made peace, they observed it faithfully, notwithstanding that the oppression of the Portuguese obliged them to forsake the country. Sugar-works were established, and considerable quantities of the produce exported to the mother country.

Jorge de Figueiredo, _Escrivam da Fazenda_, was the first donatory of the captaincy Ilheos, 140 m. south of Bahia. His office preventing him from taking possession in person, he deputed the task to Francisco Romeiro, a Castilian. The Tupinoquins, the most tractable of the Brazilian tribes, made peace with the settlers, and the colony was founded without a struggle.

The coast from the Rio Sao Francisco to Bahia was granted to Francisco Pereira Coutinho; the bay itself, with all its creeks, was afterwards added to the grant. When Coutinho formed his establishment, where Villa Velha now stands, he found a noble Portuguese living in the neighbourhood who, having been shipwrecked, had, by means of his fire-arms, raised himself to the rank of chief among the natives. He was surrounded by a patriarchal establishment of wives and children; and to him most of the distinguished families of Bahia still trace their lineage. The regard entertained by the natives for Caramuru (signifying _man of fire_) induced them to extend a hospitable welcome to his countrymen, and for a time everything went on well. Coutinho had, however, learned in India to be an oppressor, and the Tupinambas were the fiercest and most powerful of the native tribes. The Portuguese were obliged to abandon their settlement; but several of them returned at a later period, with Caramuru, and thus a European community was established in the district.

Some time before the period at which these captaincies were established, a factory had been planted at Pernambuco. A ship from Marseilles took it, and left seventy men in it as a garrison; but she was captured on her return, and carried into Lisbon, and immediate measures were taken for reoccupying the place. The captaincy of Pernambuco was granted to Don Duarte Coelho Pereira as the reward of his services in India. It extended along the coast from the Rio Sao Francisco, northward to the Rio de Juraza. Duarte sailed with his wife and children, and many of his kinsmen, to take possession, of his new colony, and landed in the port of Pernambuco. To the town which was there founded he gave the name of Olinda. The Cabetes, who possessed the soil, were fierce and pertinacious; and, assisted by the French, who traded to that coast, Coelho had to gain by inches what was granted him by leagues. The Portuguese managed, however, to beat off their enemies; and, having entered into an alliance with the Tobayanes, followed up their success.

Attempts were made about this time to establish two other captaincies, but without success. Pedro de Goes obtained a grant of the captaincy of Parahyba between those of Sao Vicente and Espirito Santo; but his means were too feeble to enable him to make head against the aborigines, and the colony was broken up after a painful struggle of seven years. Joao de Barros, the historian, obtained the captaincy of Maranhao. For the sake of increasing his capital, he divided his grant with Fernao Alvares de Andrade and Aires da Cunha. They projected a scheme of conquest and colonization upon a large scale. Nine hundred men, of whom one hundred and thirteen were horsemen, embarked in ten ships under the command of Aires da Cunha. But the vessels were wrecked upon some shoals about one hundred leagues to the south of Maranhao; the few survivors, after suffering immense hardships, escaped to the nearest settlements, and the undertaking was abandoned.

By these adventures the whole line of Brazilian coast, from the mouth of La Plata to the mouth of the Amazon, had become studded at intervals with Portuguese settlements, in all of which law and justice were administered, however inadequately. It is worthy of observation, that Brazil was the first colony founded in America upon an agricultural principle, for until then the precious metals were the exclusive attraction. Sufficient capital was attracted between the year 1531 (in which De Sousa founded the first captaincy) and the year 1548 to render these colonies an object of importance to the mother country. Their organization, however, in regard to their means of defence against both external aggression and internal violence, was extremely defective. Their territories were surrounded and partly occupied by large tribes of savages. Behind them the Spaniards, who had an establishment at Asuncion, had penetrated almost to the sources of the waters of Paraguay, and had succeeded in establishing communication with Peru. Orellana, on the other hand, setting out from Peru, had crossed the mountains and sailed down the Amazon. Nor had the French abandoned their hopes of effecting an establishment on the coast.

The obvious remedy for these evils was to concentrate the executive power, to render the petty chiefs amenable to one tribunal, and to confide the management of the defensive force to one hand. In order to this the powers of the several captains were revoked, whilst their property in their grants was reserved to them. A governor-general was appointed, with full powers, civil and criminal. The judicial and financial functions in each province were vested in the _Ouvidor_, whose authority in the college of finance was second only to that of the governor. Every colonist was enrolled either in the _Milicias_ or _Ordenanzas_. The former were obliged to serve beyond the boundaries of the province, the latter only at home. The chief cities received municipal constitutions, as in Portugal. Thome de Sousa was the first person nominated to the important post of governor-general. He was instructed to build a strong city in Bahia and to establish there the seat of his government. In pursuance of his commission he arrived at Bahia in April 1549, with a fleet of six vessels, on board of which were three hundred and twenty persons in the king's pay, four hundred convicts and about three hundred free colonists. Care had been taken for the spiritual wants of the provinces by associating six Jesuits with the expedition.

First Jesuit missions.

Old Caramuru, who still survived, rendered the governor essential service by gaining for his countrymen the goodwill of the natives. The new city, to which the name of Sao Salvador was given, was established on the heights above the Bay of All Saints (Todos os Santos), from which its later name of Bahia is taken. Within four months one hundred houses were built, and surrounded by a mud wall. Sugar plantations were laid out in the vicinity. During the four years of Sousa's government there were sent out at different times supplies of all kinds. Female orphans of noble families were given in marriage to the officers, and portioned from the royal estates, and orphan boys were sent to be educated by the Jesuits. The capital rose rapidly in importance, and the captaincies learned to regard it as a common head and centre of wealth. Meanwhile the Jesuits undertook the moral and religious culture of the natives, and of the scarcely less savage colonists. Strong opposition was at first experienced from the gross ignorance of the Indians, and the depravity of the Portuguese, fostered by the licentious encouragement of some abandoned priests who had found their way to Brazil. Over these persons the Jesuits had no authority; and it was not until the arrival of the first bishop of Brazil in 1552, that anything like an efficient check was imposed upon them. Next year Sousa was succeeded by Duarte da Costa, who brought with him a reinforcement of Jesuits, at the head of whom was Luis de Gran, appointed, with Nobrega the chief of the first mission, joint provincial of Brazil.

Nobrega's first act was one which has exercised the most beneficial influence over the social system of Brazil, namely, the establishment of a college on the then unreclaimed plains of Piratininga. It was named Sao Paulo, and has been at once the source whence knowledge and civilization have been diffused through Brazil, and the nucleus of a colony of its manliest and hardiest citizens, which sent out successive swarms of hardy adventurers to people the interior. The good intentions of the Jesuits were in part frustrated by the opposition of Costa the governor; and it was not until 1558, when Mem de Sa was sent out to supersede him, that their projects were allowed free scope.

Settlement of Rio de Janeiro.

Rio de Janeiro was first occupied by French settlers. Nicholas Durand de Villegagnon, a bold and skilful seaman, having visited Brazil, saw at once the advantages which might accrue his country from a settlement there. In order to secure the interest of Coligny, he gave out that his projected colony was intended to serve as a place of refuge for the persecuted Huguenots. Under the patronage of that admiral, he arrived at Rio de Janeiro in 1558 with a train of numerous and respectable colonists. As soon, however, as he thought his power secure, he threw off the mask, and began to harass and oppress the Huguenots by every means he could devise. Many of them were forced by his tyranny to return to France; and ten thousand Protestants, ready to embark for the new colony, were deterred by their representations. Villegagnon, finding his force much diminished in consequence of his treachery, sailed for France in quest of recruits; and during his absence the Portuguese governor, by order of his court, attacked and dispersed the settlement. For some years the French kept up a kind of bush warfare; but in 1567 the Portuguese succeeded in establishing a settlement at Rio.

Mem de Sa continued to hold the reins of government in Brazil upon terms of the best understanding with the clergy, and to the great advantage of the colonies, for fourteen years. On the expiration of his power, which was nearly contemporary with that of his life, an attempt was made to divide Brazil into two governments; but this having failed, the territory was reunited in 1578, the year in which Diego Laurenco da Veiga was appointed governor. At this time the colonies, although not yet independent of supplies from the mother country, were in a flourishing condition; but the usurpation of the crown of Portugal by Philip II. changed the aspect of affairs. Brazil, believed to be inferior to the Spanish possessions in mines, was consequently abandoned in comparative neglect for the period intervening between 1578 and 1640, during which it continued an apanage of Spain.

English and French aggressions.

No sooner had Brazil passed under the Spanish crown, than English adventurers directed their hostile enterprises against its shores. In 1586 Witherington plundered Bahia; in 1591 Cavendish made an abortive attack on Santos; in 1595 Lancaster attacked Olinda. These exploits, however, were transient in their effects. In 1612 the French attempted to found a permanent colony in the island of Marajo, where they succeeded in maintaining themselves till 1618. This attempt led to the erection of Maranhao and Para into a separate _Estado_. But it was on the part of the Dutch that the most skilful and pertinacious efforts were made for securing a footing in Brazil; and they alone of all the rivals of the Portuguese have left traces of their presence in the national spirit and institutions of Brazil.

Struggle with the Dutch.

The success of the Dutch East India Company led to the establishment of a similar one for the West Indies, to which a monopoly of the trade to America and Africa was granted. This body despatched in 1624 a fleet against Bahia. The town yielded almost without a struggle. The fleet soon after sailed, a squadron being detached against Angola, with the intention of taking possession of that colony, in order to secure a supply of slaves. The fall of Bahia for once roused the Spaniards and Portuguese to joint action, and a great expedition speedily sailed from Cadiz and Lisbon for Bahia. Once more, though strongly garrisoned, the town was retaken without any serious fighting in May 1625. The honours bestowed upon the Indian chiefs for their assistance in this war broke down in a great measure the barrier between the two races; and there is at this day a greater admixture of their blood among the better classes in Bahia than is to be found elsewhere in Brazil.

Dutch settlement in Brazil.

In 1630 the Dutch attempted again to effect a settlement; and Olinda, with its port, the Recife-Olinda, was destroyed, but the Recife was fortified and held, reinforcements and supplies being sent by sea from Holland. The Dutch were unable, however, to extend their power beyond the limits of the town, until the arrival of Count John Maurice of Nassau-Siegen in 1636. His first step was to introduce a regular government among his countrymen; his second, to send to the African coast one of his officers, who took possession of a Portuguese settlement, and thus secured a supply of slaves. In the course of eight years, the limited period of his government, he succeeded in asserting the Dutch supremacy along the coast of Brazil from the mouth of Sao Francisco to Maranhao. The Recife was rebuilt and adorned with splendid residences and gardens and received from its founder the name of Mauritstad. He promoted the amalgamation of the different races, and sought to conciliate the Portuguese by the confidence he reposed in them. His object was to found a great empire; but this was a project at variance with the wishes of his employers--an association of merchants, who were dissatisfied because the wealth which they expected to see flowing into their coffers was expended in promoting the permanent interests of a distant country. Count Maurice resigned his post in 1644. His successors possessed neither his political nor his military talents, and had to contend with more difficult circumstances.

In 1640 the revolution which placed the house of Braganza on the throne of Portugal restored Brazil to masters more inclined to promote its interests and assert its possession than the Spaniards. It was indeed high time that some exertion should be made. The northern provinces had fallen into the power of Holland; the southern, peopled in a great measure by the hardy descendants of the successive colonists who had issued on all sides from the central establishment of Sao Paulo, had learned from their habits of unaided and successful enterprise to court independence. They had ascended the waters of the Paraguay to their sources. They had extended their limits southwards till they reached the Spanish settlements of La Plata. They had reduced to slavery numerous tribes of the natives. They were rich in cattle, and had commenced the discovery of the mines. When, therefore, the inhabitants of Sao Paulo saw themselves about to be transferred, as a dependency of Portugal, from one master to another, they conceived the idea of erecting their country into an independent state. Their attempt, however, was frustrated by Amador Bueno, the person whom they had selected for their king. When the people shouted "Long live King Amador," he cried out "Long live John IV.," and took refuge in a convent. The multitude, left without a leader, acquiesced, and this important province was secured to the house of Braganza.

Revolt against the Dutch.

French expedition to Brazil, 1710.

Rio and Santos, although both evinced a desire of independence, followed the example of the Paulistas. Bahia, as capital of the Brazilian states, felt that its ascendancy depended upon the union with Portugal. The government, thus left in quiet possession of the rest of Brazil, had time to concentrate its attention upon the Dutch conquests. The crown of Portugal was, however, much too weak to adopt energetic measures. But the Brazilian colonists, now that the mother country had thrown off the Spanish yoke, determined even without assistance from the homeland to rise in revolt against foreign domination. The departure of Count Maurice, moreover, had seriously weakened the position of the Dutch, for his successors had neither his conciliatory manners nor his capacity. Joao Fernandes Vieyra, a native of Madeira, organized the insurrection which broke out in 1645. This insurrection gave birth to one of those wars in which a whole nation, destitute of pecuniary resources, military organization and skilful leaders, but familiar with the country, is opposed to a handful of soldiers advantageously posted and well officered. But home difficulties and financial necessities prevented the West India Company from sending adequate reinforcements from Holland. In 1649 a rival company was started in Portugal known as the Brazil Company, which sent out a fleet to help the colonists in Pernambuco. Slowly the Dutch lost ground and the outbreak of war with England sounded the knell of their dominion in Brazil. In 1654 their capital and last stronghold fell into the hands of Vieyra. It was not, however, till 1662 that Holland signed a treaty with Portugal, by which all territorial claims in Brazil were abandoned in exchange for a cash indemnity and certain commercial privileges. After this, except some inroads on the frontiers, the only foreign invasion which Brazil had to suffer was from France. In 1710 a squadron, commanded by Duclerc, disembarked 1000 men, and attacked Rio de Janeiro. After having lost half of his men in a battle, Duclerc and all his surviving companions were made prisoners. The governor treated them cruelly. A new squadron with 6000 troops was entrusted to the famous admiral Duguay Trouin to revenge this injury. They arrived at Rio on the 12th of September 1711. After four days of hard fighting the town was taken. The governor retreated to a position out of it, and was only awaiting reinforcements from Minas to retake it; but, Duguay Trouin threatening to burn it, he was obliged on the 10th of October to sign a capitulation, and pay to the French admiral 610,000 crusados, 500 cases of sugar, and provisions for the return of the fleet to Europe. Duguay Trouin departed to Bahia to obtain fresh spoils; but having lost in a storm two of his best ships, with an important part of the money received, he renounced this plan and returned directly to France.

After this the Portuguese governed their colony undisturbed. The approach of foreign traders was prohibited, while the regalities reserved by the crown drained the country of a great proportion of its wealth.

The important part which the inhabitants of Sao Paulo have played in the history of Brazil has been already adverted to. The establishment of the Jesuit college had attracted settlers to its neighbourhood, and frequent marriages had taken place between the Indians of the district and the colonists. A hardy and enterprising race of men had sprung from this mixture, who, first searching whether their new country were rich in metals, soon began adventurous raids into the interior, making excursions also against the remote Indian tribes with a view to obtaining slaves, and from the year 1629 onwards repeatedly attacked the Indian reductions of the Jesuits in Paraguay, although both provinces were then nominally subject to the crown of Spain. Other bands penetrated into Minas and still farther north and westward, discovering mines there and in Goyaz and Cuyaba. New colonies were thus formed round those districts in which gold had been found, and in the beginning of the 18th century five principal settlements in Minas Geraes had been elevated by royal charter to the privileges of towns. In 1720 this district was separated from Sao Paulo, to which it had previously been dependent. As early as 1618 a code of laws for the regulation of the mining industry had been drawn up by Philip III., the executive and judicial functions in the mining districts being vested in a _provedor_, and the fiscal in a treasurer, who received the royal fifths and superintended the weighing of all the gold, rendering a yearly account of all discoveries and produce. For many years, however, these laws were little more than a dead letter. The same infatuated passion for mining speculation which had characterized the Spanish settlers in South America now began to actuate the Portuguese; labourers and capital were drained off to the mining districts, and Brazil, which had hitherto in great measure supplied Europe with sugar, sank before the competition of the English and French. A new source of wealth was now opened up; some adventurers from Villa do Principe in Minas, going north to the Seria Frio, made the discovery of diamonds about the year 1710, but it was not till 1730 that the discovery was for the first time announced to the government, which immediately declared them _regalia_. While the population of Brazil continued to increase, the moral and intellectual culture of its inhabitants was left in great measure to chance; they grew up with those robust and healthy sentiments which are engendered by the absence of false teachers, but with a repugnance to legal ordinances, and encouraged in their ascendancy over the Indians to habits of violence and oppression. The Jesuits from the first moment of their landing in Brazil had constituted themselves the protectors of the natives, and though strenuously opposed by the colonists and ordinary clergy, had gathered the Indians together in many _aldeas_, over which officials of their order exercised spiritual and temporal authority. A more efficacious stop, however, was put to the persecution of the Indians by the importation of large numbers of negroes from the Portuguese possessions in Africa, these being found more active and serviceable than the native tribes.

Reforms of Pombal.

The Portuguese government, under the administration of Carvalho, afterwards marquis of Pombal, attempted to extend to Brazil the bold spirit of innovation which directed all his efforts. The proud minister had been resisted in his plans of reform at home by the Jesuits, and, determining to attack the power of the order, first deprived them of all temporal power in the state of Maranhao and Para. These ordinances soon spread to the whole of Brazil, and a pretext being found in the suspicion of Jesuit influence in some partial revolts of the Indian troops on the Rio Negro, the order was expelled from Brazil under circumstances of great severity in 1760. The Brazilian Company founded by Vieyra, which so materially contributed to preserve its South American possessions to Portugal, had been abolished in 1721 by John V.; but such an instrument being well suited to the bold spirit of Pombal, he established a chartered company again in 1755, to trade exclusively with Maranhao and Para; and in 1759, in spite of the remonstrance of the British Factory at Lisbon, formed another company for Parahyba and Pernambuco. Pombal's arrangements extended also to the interior of the country, where he extinguished at once the now indefinite and oppressive claims of the original donatories of the captaincies, and strengthened and enforced the regulations of the mining districts. The policy of many of Pombal's measures is more than questionable; but his admission of all races to equal rights in the eye of the law, his abolition of feudal privileges, and the firmer organization of the powers of the land which he introduced, powerfully co-operated towards the development of the capabilities of Brazil. Yet on the death of his king and patron in 1777, when court intrigue forced him from his high station, he who had done so much for his country's institutions was reviled on all hands.

The most important feature in the history of Brazil during the first thirty years following the retirement of Pombal was the conspiracy of Minas in 1789. The successful issue of the recent revolution of the English colonies in North America had filled the minds of some of the more educated youth of that province; and in imitation, a project to throw off the Portuguese yoke was formed,--a cavalry officer, Silva Xavier, nicknamed Tira-dentes (tooth-drawer), being the chief conspirator. But the plot being discovered during their inactivity, the conspirators were banished to Africa, and Tira-dentes, the leader, was hanged. Thenceforward affairs went on prosperously; the mining districts continued to be enlarged; the trading companies of the littoral provinces were abolished, but the impulse they had given to agriculture remained.

Portuguese royal family in Brazil, 1807.

Reorganization on Portuguese model.

Removed from all communication with the rest of the world except through the mother country, Brazil remained unaffected by the first years of the great revolutionary war in Europe. Indirectly, however, the fate of this isolated country was decided by the consequences of the French Revolution. Brazil is the only instance of a colony becoming the seat of the government of its own mother country, and this was the work of Napoleon. When he resolved upon the invasion and conquest of Portugal, the prince regent, afterwards Dom John VI., having no means of resistance, decided to take refuge in Brazil. He created a regency in Lisbon, and departed for Brazil on the 29th of November 1807, accompanied by the queen Donna Maria I., the royal family, all the great officers of state, a large part of the nobility and numerous retainers. They arrived at Bahia on the 21st of January 1808, and were received with enthusiasm. The regent was requested to establish there the seat of his government, but a more secure asylum presented itself in Rio de Janeiro, where the royal fugitives arrived on the 7th of March. Before leaving Bahia, Dom John took the first step to emancipate Brazil, opening its ports to foreign commerce, and permitting the export of all Brazilian produce under any flag, the royal monopolies of diamonds and Brazil-wood excepted. Once established in Rio de Janeiro, the government of the regent was directed to the creation of an administrative machinery for the dominions that remained to him as it existed in Portugal. Besides the ministry which had come with the regent, the council of state, and the departments of the four ministries of home, finances, war and marine then existing, there were created in the course of one year a supreme court of justice, a board of patronage and administration of the property of the church and military orders, an inferior court of appeal, the court of exchequer and royal treasury, the royal mint, bank of Brazil, royal printing-office, powder-mills on a large scale, and a supreme military court. The maintenance of the court, and the salaries of so large a number of high officials, entailed the imposition of new taxes to meet these expenses. Notwithstanding this the expenses continued to augment, and the government had recourse to the reprehensible measure of altering the money standard, and the whole monetary system was soon thrown into the greatest confusion. The bank, in addition to its private functions, farmed many of the _regalia_, and was in the practice of advancing large sums to the state, transactions which gave rise to extensive corruption, and terminated some years later in the breaking of the bank.

Thus the government of the prince regent began its career in the new world with dangerous errors in the financial system; yet the increased activity which a multitude of new customers and the increase of circulating medium gave to the trade of Rio, added a new stimulus to the industry of the whole nation. Numbers of English artisans and shipbuilders, Swedish iron-founders, German engineers and French manufacturers sought fortunes in the new country, and diffused industry by their example.

In the beginning of 1809, in retaliation for the occupation of Portugal, an expedition was sent from Para to the French colony of Guiana, and after some fighting this part of Guiana was incorporated with Brazil. This conquest was, however, of short duration; for, by the treaty of Vienna in 1815, the colony was restored to France. Its occupation contributed to the improvement of agriculture in Brazil; it had been the policy of Portugal up to this time to separate the productions of its colonies, to reserve sugar for Brazil, and spices to the East Indies, and to prohibit the cultivation of these in the African possessions. Now, however, many plants were imported not only from Guiana but from India and Africa, cultivated in the Royal Botanic Garden, and thence distributed. The same principle which dictated the conquest of French Guiana originated attempts to seize the Spanish colonies of Montevideo and Buenos Aires, Portugal being also at war with Spain. The chiefs of these colonies were invited to place them under the protection of the Portuguese crown, but these at first affecting loyalty to Spain declined the offer, then threw off the mask and declared themselves independent, and the Spanish governor, Elio, was afterwards defeated by Artigas, the leader of the independents.

Brazil declared an integral portion of the monarchy.

The inroads made on the frontiers of Rio Grande and Sao Paulo decided the court of Rio to take possession of Montevideo; a force of 5000 troops was sent thither from Portugal, together with a Brazilian corps; and the irregulars of Artigas, unable to withstand disciplined troops, were forced, after a total defeat, to take refuge beyond the River Uruguay. The Portuguese took possession of the city of Montevideo in January 1817, and the territory of Misiones was afterwards occupied. The importance which Brazil was acquiring decided the regent to give it the title of kingdom, and by decree of the 16th January 1815, the Portuguese sovereignty thenceforward took the title of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and Algarves. Thus the old colonial government disappeared even in name. In March 1816 the queen Donna Maria I. died, and the prince regent became king under the title of Dom John VI.

Pedro proclaims the independence of Brazil, 1822.

Although Brazil had now become in fact the head of its own mother country, the government was not in the hands of Brazilians, but of the Portuguese, who had followed the court. The discontent arising among Brazilians from this cause was heightened by a decree assigning a heavy tax on the chief Brazilian custom houses, to be in operation for forty years, for the benefit of the Portuguese noblemen who had suffered during the war with France. The amiable character of the king preserved his own popularity, but the government was ignorant and profligate, justice was ill administered, negligence and disorder reigned in all its departments. Nor was the discontent less in Portugal on account of its anomalous position. These causes and the fermentation of liberal principles produced by the French Revolution originated a conspiracy in Lisbon in 1817, which was, however, discovered in time to prevent its success. A similar plot and rebellion took place in the province of Pernambuco, where the inhabitants of the important commercial city of Recife (Pernambuco) were jealous of Rio and the sacrifices they were compelled to make for the support of the luxurious court there. Another conspiracy to establish a republican government was promptly smothered in Bahia, and the outbreak in Pernambuco was put down after a republic had been formed there for ninety days. Still the progress of the republican spirit in Brazil caused Dom Joao to send to Portugal for bodies of picked troops, which were stationed throughout the provincial capitals. In Portugal the popular discontent produced the revolution of 1820, when representative government was proclaimed--the Spanish constitution of 1812 being provisionally adopted. In Rio, the Portuguese troops with which the king had surrounded himself as the defence against the liberal spirit of the Brazilians, took up arms on the 26th of February 1821, to force him to accept the system proclaimed in Portugal. The prince Dom Pedro, heir to the crown, who now for the first time took part in public affairs, actively exerted himself as a negotiator between the king and the troops, who were joined by bodies of the people. After attempting a compromise the king finally submitted, took the oath and named a new ministry. The idea of free government filled the people with enthusiasm, and the principles of a representative legislature were freely adopted, the first care being for the election of deputies to the Cortes of Lisbon to take part in framing the new constitution. As the king could not abandon Portugal to itself he determined at first to send the prince thither as regent, but Dom Pedro had acquired such popularity by his conduct in the revolution, and had exhibited such a thirst for glory, that the king feared to trust his adventurous spirit in Europe, and decided to go himself. The Brazilian deputies on arriving in Lisbon expressed dissatisfaction with the Cortes for having begun the framing of the constitution before their arrival, for Brazil could not be treated as a secondary part of the monarchy. Sharp discussions and angry words passed between the Brazilian and Portuguese deputies, the news of which excited great discontent in Brazil. An insulting decree was passed in the Cortes, ordering the prince Dom Pedro to come to Europe, which filled the Brazilians with alarm; they foresaw that without a central authority the country would fall back to its former colonial state subject to Portugal. The provisional government of Sao Paulo, influenced by the brothers Andrada, began a movement for independence by asking the prince to disobey the Cortes and remain in Brazil, and the council of Rio de Janeiro followed with a similar representation, to which the prince assented. The Portuguese troops of the capital at first assumed a coercive attitude, but were forced to give way before the ardour and military preparations of the Brazilians, and submitted to embark for Portugal. These scenes were repeated in Pernambuco, where the Portuguese, after various conflicts, were obliged to leave the country; in Bahia, however, as well as in Maranhao and Para, the Portuguese prevailed. In the agitation for independence continued. The two brothers Andrada were called to the ministry; and the municipal council conferred upon the prince regent the title of Perpetual Defender of Brazil. With great activity he set off to the central provinces of Minas and Sao Paulo to suppress disaffected movements and direct the revolution. In Sao Paulo, on the 7th of September 1822, he proclaimed the independence of Brazil. On his return to Rio de Janeiro on the l2th of October he was proclaimed constitutional emperor with great enthusiasm.

The Cortes at Lisbon chose Bahia as a centre for resisting the independence, and large forces were sent thither. But the city was vigorously besieged by the Brazilians by land, and finally the Portuguese were obliged to re-embark on the 2nd of July 1823. A Brazilian squadron, under command of Lord Cochrane, attacked the Portuguese vessels, embarrassed with troops, and took several of them. Taylor, another Englishman in Brazilian service, followed the vessels across the Atlantic, and even captured some of the ships in sight of the land of Portugal. The troops in Montevideo also embarked for Portugal, and the Banda Oriental remained a part of Brazil with the title of the _Provincia Cisplatina_. Before the end of 1823 the authority of the new emperor and the independence of Brazil were undisputed throughout the whole country.

Constitution of 1824.

Republican movements now began to spread, to suppress which the authorities made use of the Portuguese remaining in the country; and the disposition of the emperor to consider these as his firmest supporters much influenced the course of his government and his future destiny. The two Andradas, who imagined they could govern the young emperor as a sovereign of their own creation, encountered great opposition in the constitutional assembly, which had been opened in Rio in May 1823, to discuss the project of a new constitution. In July the emperor resolved to dismiss them and form a new ministry, but against this the brothers raised a violent opposition. In November the emperor put an end to the angry debates which ensued in the assembly by dissolving it, exiling the Andradas to France, and convoking a new assembly to deliberate on a proposed constitution more liberal than the former project. The proclamation of a republic in the provinces of Pernambuco and Ceara, with the rebellion of the Cisplatina province, favoured by Buenos Aires and its ultimate loss to Brazil, were the result of the _coup d'etat_ of November 1823. The Brazilians were universally discontented--on one side fearing absolutism if they supported the emperor, on the other anarchy if he fell. Knowing the danger of an undefined position, the emperor caused the councils to dispense with their deliberations, and adopt, as the constitution of the empire, the project framed by the council of state. Accordingly, on the 25th of March 1824, the emperor swore to the constitution with great solemnity and public rejoicings. By this stroke of policy he saved himself and Brazil. Negotiations were opened in London between the Brazilian and Portuguese plenipotentiaries, treating for the recognition of the independence of Brazil; and on the 25th of August 1825 a treaty was signed by which the Portuguese king, Dom John VI., assumed the title of emperor of Brazil, and immediately abdicated in favour of his son, acknowledging Brazil as an independent empire, but the treaty obliged Brazil to take upon herself the Portuguese debt, amounting to nearly two millions sterling.

The rebellion of the Banda Oriental was followed by a declaration of war with Buenos Aires which had supported it, and operations by sea and land were conducted against that republic in a feeble way. Meanwhile the well-deserved popularity of the emperor began to decline. He had given himself up to the influence of the Portuguese; the most popular men who had worked for the independence were banished; and a continual change of ministry showed a disposition on the part of the sovereign to prosecute obstinately measures of which his advisers disapproved. His popularity was regained, however, to some extent, when, on the death of his father, he was unanimously acknowledged king of Portugal, and especially when he abdicated that crown in favour of his daughter, Donna Maria; but his line of policy was not altered, and commercial treaties entered into with European states conceding them favours, which were popularly considered to be injurious to Brazilian trade, met with bitter censure.

During the year 1827 the public debt was consolidated, and a department was created for the application of a sinking fund.

Abdication of Pedro I., 1831.

The year 1828 was a calamitous one for Brazil. It began with the defeat of the Brazilian army by the Argentine forces, and this entirely through the incapacity of the commander-in-chief; and misunderstandings, afterwards compensated by humbling money-payments on the part of Brazil, arose with the United States, France and England on account of merchant vessels captured by the Brazilian squadron blockading Buenos Aires. Financial embarrassments increased to an alarming extent; the emperor was compelled by the British government to make peace with Buenos Aires and to renounce the Banda Oriental; and to fill the sum of disasters Dom Miguel had treacherously usurped the crown of Portugal. It was under these unlucky auspices that the elections of new deputies took place in 1829. As was expected the result was the election everywhere of ultra-liberals opposed to the emperor, and in the succeeding year people everywhere exhibited their disaffection. During the session of 1830 the chambers adopted a criminal code in which punishment by death for political offences was abolished. It was openly suggested in the journals to reform the constitution by turning Brazil into independent federal provinces, governed by authorities popularly elected, as in the United States. Alarmed at length at the ground gained by this idea in the provinces, the emperor set off to Minas to stir up the former enthusiasm in his favour from recollections of the independence, but was coldly received. On his return to Rio in March 1831 scenes of disorder occurred, and great agitation among the Liberal party. Imagining himself sure of a brilliant destiny in Europe if he lost his Brazilian crown, the emperor attempted to risk a decisive attack against the Liberals, and to form a new ministry composed of men favourable to absolutism. This step caused excited public meetings in the capital, which were joined in by the troops, and deputations went to ask the emperor to dismiss the unpopular ministry. He replied by dissolving the ministry without naming another, and by abdicating the crown in favour of the heir apparent, then only five years of age. Dom Pedro immediately embarked in an English ship, leaving the new emperor Dom Pedro II. and the princesses Januaria, Francisca and Paula. The subsequent career of this unfortunate prince belongs to the history of Portugal.

A provisional and afterwards a permanent regency, composed of three members, was now formed in Brazil, but scenes of disorder succeeded, and discussions and struggles between the republican party and the government, and a reactionary third party in favour of the restoration of Dom Pedro, occupied the succeeding years. In 1834 a reform which was well received consisted in the alteration of the regency, from that of three members elected by the legislative chambers, to one regent chosen by the whole of the electors in the same manner as the deputies; and the councils of the provinces were replaced by legislative provincial assemblies. Virtually, this was a republican government like that of the United States, for no difference existed in the mode of election of the regent from that of a president. The ex-minister Feijoo was chosen for this office. With the exception of Para and Rio Grande the provinces were at peace, but these were in open rebellion; the former was reduced to obedience, but in the latter, though the imperial troops occupied the town, the country was ravaged by its warlike inhabitants. The regent was now accused of conniving at this rebellion, and the opposition of the chamber of deputies became so violent as to necessitate his resignation. Araujo Lima, minister of the home department, who strove to give his government the character of a monarchical reaction against the principles of democracy, was chosen by a large majority in his stead. The experiment of republican government had proved so discreditable, and had so wearied the country of cabals, that men hitherto known for their sympathy with democratic principles became more monarchical than the regent himself; and under this influence a movement to give the regency into the hands of the princess Donna Januaria, now in her 18th year, was set on foot. It was soon perceived, however, that if the empire could be governed by a princess of eighteen it could be managed better by the emperor himself, who was then fourteen.

Majority of Pedro II., 1840.

A bill was accordingly presented to the legislature dispensing with the age of the emperor and declaring his majority, which after a noisy discussion was carried. The majority of the emperor Dom Pedro II. was proclaimed on the 23rd of July 1840. Several ministries, in which various parties predominated for a time, now governed the country till 1848, during which period the rebellious province of Rio Grande was pacified, more by negotiation than force of arms. In 1848 hostilities were roused with the British government through the neglect shown by the Brazilians in putting in force a treaty for the abolition of the slave trade, which had been concluded as far back as 1826; on the other hand the governor of Buenos Aires, General Rosas, was endeavouring to stir up revolution again in Rio Grande. The appearance of yellow fever in 1849, until then unknown in Brazil, was attributed to the importation of slaves. Public opinion declared against the traffic; severe laws were passed against it, and were so firmly enforced that in 1853 not a single disembarkation took place. The ministry of the Visconde de Olinda in 1849 entered into alliances with the governors of Montevideo, Paraguay and the states of Entre Rios and Corrientes, for the purpose of maintaining the integrity of the republics of Uruguay and Paraguay, which Rosas intended to reunite to Buenos Aires, and the troops of Rosa's which besieged Montevideo were forced to capitulate. Rosas then declared war formally against Brazil. An army of Correntine, Uruguayan and Brazilian troops, under General Urquiza, assisted by a Brazilian naval squadron, advanced on Buenos Aires, completely routed the forces of Rosas, and crushed for ever the power of that dictator. From 1844 Brazil was free from intestine commotions, and had resumed its activity. Public works and education were advanced, and the finances rose to a degree of prosperity previously unknown.

War with Paraguay.

In 1855 the emperor of Brazil sent a squadron of eleven men-of-war and as many transports up the Parana to adjust several questions pending between the empire and the republic of Paraguay, the most important of which was that of the right of way by the Paraguay river to the interior Brazilian province of Matto Grosso. This right had been in dispute for several years. The expedition was not permitted to ascend the river Paraguay, and returned completely foiled in its main purpose. Though the discord resulting between the states on account of this failure was subsequently allayed for a time by a treaty granting to Brazil the right to navigate the river, every obstacle was thrown in the way by the Paraguayan government, and indignities of all kinds were offered not only to Brazil but to the representatives of the Argentine and the United States. In 1864 the ambitious dictator of Paraguay, Francisco Solano Lopez, without previous declaration of war, captured a Brazilian vessel in the Paraguay, and rapidly followed up this outrage by an armed invasion of the provinces of Matto Grosso and Rio Grande in Brazil, and that of Corrientes in the Argentine Republic. A triple alliance of the invaded states with Uruguay ensued, and the tide of war was soon turned from being an offensive one on the part of Paraguay to a defensive struggle within that republic against the superior number of the allies. So strong was the natural position of Paraguay, however, and so complete the subjection of its inhabitants to the will of the dictator, that it was not until the year 1870, after the republic had been completely drained of its manhood and resources, that the long war was terminated by the capture and death of Lopez with his last handful of men by the pursuing Brazilians. From its duration and frequent battles and sieges this war involved an immense sacrifice of life to Brazil, the army in the field having been constantly maintained at between 20,000 and 30,000 men, and the expenditure in maintaining it was very great, having been calculated at upwards of fifty millions sterling. Large deficits in the financial budgets of the state resulted, involving increased taxation and the contracting of loans from foreign countries.

Notwithstanding this the sources of public wealth in Brazil were unaffected, and commerce continued steadily to increase. A grand social reform was effected in the law passed in September 1871, which enacted that from that date every child born of slave parents should be free, and also declared all the slaves belonging to the state or to the imperial household free from that time. The same law provided an emancipation fund, to be annually applied to the ransom of a certain number of slaves owned by private individuals.

Character of Pedro II.'s reign.

Under the long reign of Dom Pedro II. progress and material prosperity made steady advancement in Brazil. Occasional political outbreaks occurred, but none of very serious nature except in Rio Grande do Sul, where a long guerrilla warfare was carried on against the imperial authority. The emperor occupied himself to a far greater extent with the economic development of his people and country than with active political life. Unostentatious in his habits, Dom Pedro always had at heart the true interests of the Brazilians. Himself a highly-educated man, he sincerely desired to further the cause of education, and devoted a large portion of his time to the study of this question. His extreme liberalism prevented his opposing the spread of Socialist doctrines preached far and wide by Benjamin Constant. Begun about 1880, this propaganda took deep root in the educated classes, creating a desire for change and culminating in the military conspiracy of November 1889, by which monarchy was replaced by a republican form of government.

At first the revolutionary propaganda produced no personal animosity against the emperor, who continued to be treated by his people with every mark of respect and affection, but this state of things gradually changed. In 1864 the princess Isabella, the eldest daughter of the emperor and empress, had married the Comte d'Eu, a member of the Orleans family. The marriage was never popular in the country, owing partly to the fact that the Comte d'Eu was a reserved man who made few intimate friends and never attempted to become a favourite. Princess Isabella was charitable in many ways, always ready to take her full share of the duties falling upon her as the future empress, and thoroughly realizing the responsibilities of her position; but she was greatly influenced by the clerical party and the priesthood, and she thereby incurred the hostility of the Progressives. When Dom Pedro left Brazil for the purpose of making a tour through Europe and the United States he appointed Princess Isabella to act as regent, and she showed herself so swayed in political questions by Church influence that Liberal feeling became more and more anti-dynastic. Another incident which gave strength to the opposition was the sudden abolition of slavery without any compensation to slave-owners. The planters, the principal possessors of wealth, regarded the measure as unnecessary in view of the act which had been passed in 1885 providing for the gradual freeing of all slaves. The arguments used were, however, of no avail with the regent, and the decree was promulgated on the 13th of May 1888. No active opposition was offered to this measure, but the feelings of unrest and discontent spread rapidly.

Establishment of the Republic, 1889.

Towards the close of 1888 the emperor returned and was received by the populace with every demonstration of affection and esteem. Even among the advocates of republicanism there was no intention of dethroning Dom Pedro, excepting a few extreme members of the party, now gained the upper hand. They argued that it would be much more difficult to carry out a successful coup _d'etat_ when the good-natured, confiding emperor had been succeeded by his more suspicious and energetic daughter. Discontented officers in the army and navy rallied to this idea, and a conspiracy was organized to depose the emperor and declare a republic. On the 14th of November 1889 the palace was quietly surrounded, and on the following morning the emperor and his family were placed on board ship and sent off to Portugal. A provisional government was then formed and a proclamation issued to the effect that the country would henceforth be known as the United States of Brazil, and that in due time a republican constitution would be framed. The only voice raised in protest was that of the minister of war, and he was shot at and severely wounded as a consequence. Dom Pedro, completely broken down by the ingratitude of the people whom he had loved so much and laboured for so strenuously, made no attempt at resistance. The republican government offered to compensate him for the property he had held in Brazil as emperor, but this proposal was declined. His private possessions were respected, and were afterwards still held by Princess Isabella.

The citizen named as president of the provisional government, was General Deodoro da Fonseca, who owed his advancement to the personal friendship and assistance of Dom Pedro. Second in authority was placed General Floriano Peixoto, an officer also under heavy obligations to the deposed monarch, as indeed were nearly all of those who took active part in the conspiracy.

Brazil under the Republic.

Though the overthrow of the imperial dynasty was totally unexpected throughout, the new regime was accepted without any disturbances. Under the leadership of General Deodoro da Fonseca a praetorian system of government, in which the military element was all-powerful, came into existence, and continued till February 1891, when a national congress assembled and formulated the constitution for the United States of Brazil. The former provinces were converted into states, the only right of the federal government to interfere in their administration being for the purposes of national defence, the maintenance of public order or the enforcement of the federal laws. The constitution of the United States of America was taken as a model for drawing up that of Brazil, and the general terms were as far as possible adhered to (see above, section _Government_).

General da Fonseca and General Floriano Peixoto were elected to fill the offices of president and vice-president until the 15th of November 1894. This implied the continuance of praetorian methods of administration. The older class of more conservative Brazilians, who had formerly taken part in the administration under the emperor, withdrew altogether from public life. Many left Brazil and went into voluntary exile, while others retired to their estates. In the absence of these more respectable elements, the government fell into the hands of a gang of military adventurers and unscrupulous politicians, whose only object was to exploit the national resources for their own benefit. As a consequence, deep-rooted discontent rapidly arose. A conspiracy, of which Admiral Wandenkolk was the prime instigator, was discovered, and those who had taken part in it were banished to the distant state of Amazonas. Disturbances then broke out in Rio Grande do Sul, in consequence of disputes between the official party and the people living in the country districts. Under the leadership of Gumercindo Saraiva the country people broke into open revolt in September 1891. This outbreak was partially suppressed, but afterwards it again burst into flame with great vigour. In view of the discontent, conspiracies and revolutionary movements, President da Fonseca declared himself dictator. This act, however, met with such strong opposition that he resigned office on the 23rd of November 1891, and Vice-President Floriano Peixoto assumed the presidency.

Floriano Peixoto had been accustomed all his life to use harsh measures. For the first year of his term of office he kept seditious attempts in check, but discontent grew apace. Nor was this surprising to those who knew the corruption in the administration. Concessions and subsidies were given broadcast for worthless undertakings in order to benefit the friends of the president. Brazilian credit gave way under the strain, and evidences were not wanting at the beginning of 1893 that an outburst of public opinion was not far distant. Nevertheless President Peixoto made no effort to reform the methods of administration. Meanwhile, the revolution in Rio Grande do Sul had revived; and in July 1893 the federal government was forced to send most of the available regular troops to that state to hold the insurgents in check.

Naval revolt and civil war, 1893.

On the 6th of September prevailing discontent took definite shape in the form of a naval revolt in the Bay of Rio de Janeiro. Admiral Custodio de Mello took command of the naval forces, and demanded the resignation of the president. General Peixoto replied by organizing a defence against any attack from the squadron. Admiral Mello, finding that his demands were not complied with, began a bombardment of the city, but did not effect his purpose of compelling Peixoto to resign. The foreign ministers then arranged a compromise between the contending parties, according to which President Peixoto was to place no artillery in the city, while Admiral Mello was to refrain from bombarding the town, which was thus saved from destruction. Shortly afterwards the cruiser "Republica" and a transport ran the gauntlet of the government forts at the entrance of the bay, and proceeded south to the province of Santa Catharina, taking possession of Desterro, its capital. A provisional government was proclaimed by the insurgents, with headquarters at Desterro, and communication was opened with Gumercindo Saraiva, the leader of the insurrection in Rio Grande do Sul. It was proposed that the army of some 10,000 men under his command should advance northwards towards Rio de Janeiro, while the insurgent squadron threatened the city of Rio. In November Admiral Mello left Rio de Janeiro in the armoured cruiser "Aquidaban" and went to Desterro, the naval forces in Rio Bay being left in charge of Admiral Saldanha da Gama, an ardent monarchist, who had thrown in his lot with the insurgent cause. All was, apparently, going well with the revolt, Saraiva having invaded the states of Santa Catharina and Parana, and defeated the government troops in several encounters. Meanwhile, President Peixoto had fortified the approaches to the city of Rio de Janeiro, bought vessels of war in Europe and the United States and organized the National Guard.

Early in 1894 dissensions occurred between Saraiva and Mello, which prevented any advance of the insurgent forces, and allowed Peixoto to perfect his plans. Admiral da Gama, unable to leave the Bay of Rio de Janeiro on account of lack of transport for the sick and wounded and the civilians claiming his protection, could do no more than wait for Admiral Mello to return from Desterro. In the meantime the ships bought by President Peixoto arrived off Rio de Janeiro and prevented da Gama from escaping. On the 15th of March 1894 the rebel forces evacuated their positions on the islands of Villegaignon, Cobras and Enxadas, abandoned their vessels, and were received on board two Portuguese warships then in the harbour, whence they were conveyed to Montevideo. The action of the Portuguese commander was prompted by a desire to save life, for had the rebels fallen into the hands of Peixoto, they would assuredly have been executed.

When the news of the surrender of Saldanha da Gama reached Gumercindo Saraiva, then at Curitiba in Parana, he proceeded to retire to Rio Grande do Sul. Government troops were despatched to intercept his retreat, and in one of the skirmishes which followed Saraiva was killed. The rebel army then dispersed. Admiral Mello made an unsuccessful attack on the town of Rio Grande, and then sailed to Buenos Aires, there surrendering the rebel squadron to the Argentine authorities, by whom it was immediately delivered to the Brazilian government. After six months of civil war peace was once more established, but there still remained some small rebel groups in Rio Grande do Sul. These were joined by Admiral da Gama and a number of the naval officers, who had escaped from Rio de Janeiro; but in June 1895 the admiral was killed in a fight with the government troops. After the cessation of hostilities, the greatest barbarities were practised upon those who, although they had taken no part in the insurrection, were known to have desired the overthrow of President Peixoto. The baron Cerro Azul was shot down without trial; Marshal de Gama Eza, an old imperial soldier of eighty years of age, was murdered in cold blood, and numerous executions of men of lesser note took place, among these being two Frenchmen for whose death the Brazilian government was subsequently called upon to pay heavy compensation.

General Peixoto was succeeded as president on the 15th of November 1894 by Dr Prudente de Moraes Barros. It was a moot question whether Peixoto, after the revolt was crushed, would not declare himself dictator; certainly many of his friends were anxious that he should follow this course, but he was broken down by the strain which had been imposed upon him and was glad to surrender his duties. He did not recover his health and died shortly afterwards.

From the first day that he assumed office, President Moraes showed that he intended to suppress praetorian systems and reduce militarism to a minimum. This policy received the approval and sympathy of the majority of Brazilians, but naturally met with bitter opposition from the military element. The president gradually drew to him some members of the better conservative class to assist in his administration, and felt confident that he had the support of public opinion. Early in 1895 murmurings and disorderly conduct against the authorities began to take place in the military school at Rio de Janeiro, which had always been a hotbed of intrigue. Some of the officers and students were promptly expelled, and the president closed the school for several months. This salutary lesson had due effect, and no more discontent was fomented from that quarter. Two great difficulties stood in the way of steering the country to prosperity. The first was the chaotic confusion of the finances resulting from the maladministration of the national resources since the deposition of Dom Pedro II., and the corruption that had crept into every branch of the public service. Much was done by President Moraes to correct abuses, but the task was of too herculean a nature to allow of accomplishment within the four years during which he was at the head of affairs. The second difficulty was the war waged by religious fanatics under the leadership of Antonio Maciel, known as "Conselheiro," against the constituted authorities of Brazil.

The story of Conselheiro is a remarkable one. A native of Pernambuco, when a young man he married against the wishes of his mother, who took a violent dislike to the bride. Shortly after the marriage the mother assured her son that his wife held clandestine meetings with a lover, and stated that if he would go to a certain spot not far from the house that evening he would himself see that her assertion was true. The mother invented some plea to send the wife to the trysting-place, and then, dressing herself in male clothing, prepared to come suddenly on the scene as the lover, trusting to be able to make her escape before she was recognized. The three met almost simultaneously. Conselheiro, deeming his worst suspicions confirmed, shot and killed his wife and his mother before explanations could be offered. He was tried and allowed to go at liberty after some detention in prison. From that time Conselheiro was a victim of remorse, and to expiate his sin became a missionary in the _sertao_ or interior of Brazil among the wild Jagunco people. He built places of worship in many different districts, and at length became the recognized chief of the people among whom he had thus strangely cast his lot. Eventually he formed a settlement near Canudos, situated about 400 m. inland from Bahia. Difficulty arose between the governor of Bahia and this fanatical missionary, with the result that Conselheiro was ordered to leave the settlement and take away his people. This order was met with a sturdy refusal to move. Early in 1897 a police force was sent to eject the settlers, but encountered strong resistance, and suffered heavy loss without being able to effect the purpose intended. In March 1897 a body of 1500 troops, with four guns, was despatched to bring the Jaguncoes to reason, but was totally defeated. An army comprising some 5000 officers and men was then sent to crush Conselheiro and his people at all costs. Little progress was made, the country being difficult of access and the Jaguncoes laying ambuscades at every available place. Finally strong reinforcements were sent forward, the minister of war himself proceeding to take command of the army, now numbering nearly 13,000 men. Canudos was besieged and captured in September 1897, Conselheiro being killed in the final assault. The expense of these expeditions was very heavy, and prevented President Moraes from carrying out many of the retrenchments he had planned.

Soon after the Canudos affair a conspiracy was hatched to assassinate the president. He was watching the disembarkation of some troops when a shot was fired which narrowly missed him, and killed General Bitencourt, the minister of war. The actual perpetrator of the deed, a soldier, was tried and executed, but he was apparently ignorant of the persons who procured his services. Three other men implicated in the conspiracy were subsequently sentenced to imprisonment for a term of thirty years. The remainder of the presidency of Dr Moraes was uneventful; and on the 15th of November 1898 he was succeeded by Dr Campos Salles, who had previously been governor of the state of Sao Paulo. President Salles publicly promised political reform, economy in the administration, and absolute respect for civil rights, and speedily made efforts to fulfil these pledges.

Reform under President Campos Salles.

The difficulties in the reorganization of the finances of the state, which Dr Campos Salles had to face on his accession to power, were very great. The heavy cost involved in the suppression of internal disorders, maladministration, and the hindrances placed in the way of economical development by the semi-independence of the federal states had seriously depreciated the national credit. The president-elect accordingly undertook with the full approval of Dr Moraes, who was still in office, the task of visiting Europe with the object of endeavouring to make an arrangement with the creditors of the state for a temporary suspension of payments. He was successful in his object, and an agreement was made by which bonds should be issued instead of interest payments from the 1st of July 1898, the promise being given that every effort should be made for the resumption of cash payments in 1901. President Campos Salles entered upon his tenure of office on the 15th of November 1898, and at once proceeded to initiate fiscal legislation for the purpose of reducing expenditure and increasing the revenue. He had to face opposition from sectional interests and from the jealousy of interference with their rights on the part of provincial administrations, but he was able to achieve a considerable measure of success and to lay the foundation of a sounder system under which the financial position of the republic has made steady progress. The chief feature of the administration of Dr Campos Salles was the statesmanlike ability with which various disputes with foreign powers on boundary questions were seriously taken in hand and brought to a satisfactory and pacific settlement. There had for a long period been difficulties with France with regard to the territory which lay between the mouth of the Amazon and Cayenne or French Guiana. The language of various treatises was doubtful and ambiguous, largely owing to the ignorance of the diplomatists who drew up the articles of the exact geography of the territory in question. Napoleon had forced the Portuguese government to cede to him the northernmost arm of the mouth of the Amazon as the southern boundary of French Guiana with a large slice of the unexplored interior westwards. A few years later the Portuguese had in their turn conquered French Guiana, but had been compelled to restore it at the peace of Paris. The old ambiguity attaching to the interpretation of earlier treaties, however, remained, and in April 1899 the question by an agreement between the two states was referred to the arbitration of the president of the Swiss confederation. The decision was given in December 1900 and was entirely in favour of the Brazilian contention. A still more interesting boundary dispute was that between Great Britain and Brazil, as to the southern frontier line of British Guiana. The dispute was of very old standing, and the settlement by arbitration in 1899 of the acute misunderstanding between Great Britain and Venezuela regarding the western boundary of British Guiana, and the reference to arbitration in that same year of the Franco-Brazilian dispute, led to an agreement being made in 1901 between Brazil and Great Britain for the submission of their differences to the arbitration of the king of Italy. The district in dispute was the site of the fabled Lake of Parima and the Golden City of Manoa, the search for which in the early days of European settlement attracted so many adventurous expeditions, and which fascinated the imagination of Raleigh and drew him to his doom. The question was a complicated one involving the historical survey of Dutch and Portuguese exploration and control in the far interior of Guiana during two centuries; and it was not until 1904 that the king of Italy gave his award, which was largely in favour of the British claim, and grants to British Guiana access to the northern affluents of the Amazon. Before this decision was given Senhor Rodrigues Alves had been elected president in 1902. Dr Campos Salles had signalized his administration, not only by the settlement of disputes with European powers, but by efforts to arrive at a good understanding with the neighbouring South American republics. In July 1899 President Roca had visited Rio de Janeiro accompanied by an Argentine squadron, this being the first official visit that any South American president had ever paid to one of the adjoining states. In October 1900 Dr Campos Salles returned the visit and met with an excellent reception at Buenos Aires. The result was of importance, as it was known that Brazil was on friendly terms with Chile, and this interchange of courtesies had some effect in bringing about a settlement of the controversy between Chile and Argentina over the Andean frontier question without recourse to hostilities. This was indeed a time when questions concerning boundaries were springing up on every side, for it was only through the moderation with which the high-handed action of Bolivia in regard to the Acre rubber-producing territory was met by the Brazilian government that war was avoided. Negotiations were set on foot, and finally by treating the matter in a give-and-take spirit a settlement was reached and a treaty for an amicable exchange of territories in the district in question, accompanied by a pecuniary indemnity, was signed by President Alves at Petropolis on the 17th of November 1903. During the remainder of the term of this president internal and financial progress were undisturbed save by an outbreak in 1904 in the Cunani district, the very portion of disputed territory which had been assigned to Brazil by the arbitration with France. This province, being difficult of access, was able for a time to assert a practical independence. In 1906 Dr Affonso Penna, three times minister under Pedro II., and at that time governor of the state of Minas-Geraes, of which he had founded the new capital, Bello Horizonte, was elected president, a choice due to a coalition of the other states against Sao Paulo, to which all the recent presidents had belonged. Penna's presidency was distinguished by his successful efforts to place the finances on a sound basis. He died in office on the 14th of June 1909. (K. J.; C. E. A.; G. E.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--History: Capistrano de Abreu, _Descobrimento do Brazil e seu desenvolvimento no seculo xix_. (Rio de Janeiro, 1883); John Armitage, _History of Brazil from 1808 to 1831_ (2 vols., London, 1836); Moreira de Azevedo, _Historia do Brazil de 1831 a 1840_ (Rio de Janeiro, 1841); V.L. Basil, _L'Empire du Bresil_ (Paris, 1862); Caspar Barlaeus, _Rerun per octennium in Brasilia ... sub praefectura Mauritii Nassovii... historia_ (Amsterdam, 1647); F.S. Constancio, _Historia do Brazil_ (Pernambuco, 1843); Anfonso Fialho, _Historia d'estabelecimento da republica "Estados Unidos do Brazil"_ (Rio de Janeiro 1890); P. Gaffarel, _Histoire du Bresil francais_ (Paris, 1878); E. Grosse, _Dom Pedro I._ (Leipzig, 1836); E. Levasseur, _L'Abolition de I'esclavage en Bresil_ (Paris, 1888); J.M. de Macedo, _Anno biographico brazileiro_ (3 vols., Rio de Janeiro, 1876); A.J. Mello Moraes, _Brazil historico_ (4 vols., Rio de Janeiro, 1839); _Chorographia historica, chronographica genealogica, nobiliaria e politica do Brazil_ (5 vols., Rio de Janeiro, 1858-1863); _A Independencia e o imperio do Brazil_ (Rio de Janeiro, 1877); B. Mosse, _Dom Pedro II., empereur du Bresil_ (Paris, 1889); P. Netscher, _Les Hollandais au Bresil_ (Hague, 1853); J.M. Pereira da Silva, _Varoes illustres do Brazil_ (2 vols., Paris, 1888); _Historia da fundacao do imperio brazileiro_ (Rio de Janeiro, 1877); _Segundo Periodo do reinado de D. Pedro I._ (Paris, 1875); _Historia do Brazil de 1831 a 1840_ (Rio de Janeiro, 1888); J.P. Oliveira Martins, _O Brazil e as colonias Portuguezas_ (Lisbon, 1888); S. da Rocha Pitta, _Historia da America Portugueza_ (Lisbon, 1730); C. da Silva. _L'Oyapock et I'Amazone_ (2 vols., Paris, 1861); R. Southey, _History of Brazil_ (3 vols., London, 1810-1819); J.B. Spix and C.F. von Martius, _Reise in Brasilien_, 1817-1820 (3 parts, Munich, 1823-1831); F.A. de Varnhagen, _Historia geral do Brazil_ (2 vols., Rio de Janeiro, 1877); _Historia das luctas com os Hollandeses_ (Vienna, 187:); C.E. Akers, _Hist. of South America, 1854-1904_ (1904); the _Revista trimensal do Instituto Historico e Geographico do Brazil_ (1839-1908), one or two volumes annually, is a storehouse of papers, studies and original documents bearing on the history of Brazil.

Geography, &c.: Elisee Reclus, _Universal Geography_ (1875-1894), vol. xix. pp. 77-291; J.E. Wappaus, _Geographica physica do Brazil_ (Rio de Janeiro, 1884); A. Moreira Pinto, _Chorographia do Brazil_ (5th ed., Rip de Janeiro, 1895); Therese Prinzessin von Bayern, _Meine Reise indenbrasilianischen Tropen_ (Berlin, 1897); M. Lamberg, _Brasilien, Land und Leute_ (Leipzig, 1899); L. Hutchinson, _Report_ on Trade in Brazil (Washington, 1906); F. Katzer, _Grundzuge der Geologie des unteren Amazonegebietes_ (Leipzig, 1903); J.C. Branner, _A Bibliography of the Geology, Mineralogy and Paleontology of Brazil_ (Rio de Janeiro, 1903); J.W. Evans, "The Rocks of the Cataracts of the River Madeira and the adjoining Portions of the Beni and Mamore," _Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc._, London, vol. lxii., 1906, pp. 88-124, pl. v.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The areas are reduced from the planimetrical calculations made at Gotha and used by A. Supan in _Die Bevolkerung der Erde_ (1904). They are corrected to cover all boundary changes to 1906.

[2] The census of 1890 is the last one of which complete returns are published. That of 1900 was notoriously inaccurate in many instances.

[3] The census returns are for municipalities, and not for cities proper. As a municipality covers a large extent of country, the population given is larger than that of the urban parishes, and is therefore not strictly correct according to European practice.

[4] The Brazilian official titles are given for the state capitals: Belem for Para; Sao Luiz for Maranhao; Sao Salvador for Bahia; and Recife for Pernambuco.

[5] The capital of Minas Geraes in 1890 was Ouro Preto; it has since been transferred to Bello Horizonte, or Cidade de Minas, which has an estimated population of 25,000.

[6] Since the naval revolt of 1893-1894 the name of the capital of Santa Catharina has been changed from Desterro to Florianopolis in honour of President Floriano Peixoto.

[7] The "bran" exported is from imported wheat and cannot be considered a national product.

[8] The "old metals" consist of old iron, brass, &c., derived from railway material, machinery, &c., all imported, and should not be considered a Brazilian product.

The "sundry products" would probably be included in the four general classes were the items given.

[9] Previous to 1907 these two departments were united in one under the designation of "Industry, Communications and Public Works." The division was decreed December 29, 1906.

BRAZIL, a city and the county-seat of Clay county, Indiana, U.S.A., situated in the west central part of the state, about 16 m. E. of Terre Haute and about 57 m. W.S.W. of Indianapolis. Pop. (1890) 5905; (1900) 7786 (723 foreign-born); (1910) 9340. It is served by the Central Indiana, the Chicago & Eastern Illinois, the Evansville & Indianapolis and the Vandalia railways, and is connected with Indianapolis, Terre Haute and other cities by an interurban electric line. The principal business thoroughfare is part of the old National Road. Brazil's chief industrial importance is due to its situation in the heart of the "Brazil block" coal (so named because it naturally breaks into almost perfect rectangular blocks) and clay and shale region; among its manufactures are mining machinery and tools, boilers, paving and enamelled building bricks, hollow bricks, tiles, conduits, sewer-pipe and pottery. The municipality owns and operates its water-works. The first settlement here was in 1844; and Brazil was incorporated as a town in 1866, and was chartered as a city in 1873.

BRAZIL NUTS, the seeds of _Bertholletia excelsa_, a gigantic tree belonging to the natural order Lecythidaceae, which grows in the valleys of the Amazons and generally throughout tropical America. The tree attains an average height of 130 ft., having a smooth cylindrical trunk, with a diameter of 14 ft. 50 ft. from the ground, and branching at a height of about 100 ft. The lower portion of the trunk presents a buttressed aspect, owing to the upward extension of the roots in the form of thin prop-like walls surrounding the stem. The fruit of the tree is globular, with a diameter of 5 or 6 in., and consists of a thick hard woody shell, within which are closely packed the seeds which constitute the so-called nuts of commerce. The seeds are triangular in form, having a hard woody testa enclosing the "kernel"; and of these each fruit contains from eighteen to twenty-five. The fruits as they ripen fall from their lofty position, and they are at the proper season annually collected and broken open by the Indians. Brazil nuts are largely eaten; they also yield in the proportion of about 9 oz. to each lb. of kernels a fine bland fluid oil, highly valued for use in cookery, and used by watchmakers and artists.

BRAZIL WOOD, a dye wood of commercial importance, obtained from the West Indies and South America, belonging to the genera _Caesalpinia_ and _Peltophorum_ of the natural order Leguminosae. There are several woods of the kind, commercially distinguished as Brazil wood, Nicaragua or Peach wood, Pernambuco wood and Lima wood, each of which has a different commercial value, although the tinctorial principle they yield is similar. Commercial Brazil wood is imported for the use of dyers in billets of large size, and is a dense compact wood of a reddish brown colour, rather bright when freshly cut, but becoming dull on exposure. The colouring-matter of Brazil wood, brazilin, C16H14O5, crystallizes with 1-1/2 H2O, and is freely soluble in water; it is extracted for use by simple infusion or decoction of the coarsely-powdered wood. When freshly prepared the extract is of a yellowish tint; but by contact with the air, or the addition of an alkaline solution, it develops a brick-red colour. This is due to the formation of brazilein, C16H12O5.H2O, which is the colouring matter used by the dyer. Brazilin crystallizes in hexagonal amber yellow crystals, which are soluble in water and alcohol. The solution when free of oxygen is colourless, but on the access of air it assumes first a yellow and thereafter a reddish yellow colour. With soda-ley it takes a brilliant deep carmine tint, which colour may be discharged by heating in a closed vessel with zinc dust, in which condition, the solution is excessively sensitive to oxygen, the slightest exposure to air immediately giving a deep carmine. With tin mordants Brazil wood gives brilliant but fugitive steam reds in calico-printing; but on account of the loose nature of its dyes it is seldom used except as an adjunct to other colours. It is used to form lakes which are employed in tinting papers, staining paper-hangings, and for various other decorative purposes.

BRAZING AND SOLDERING, in metal work, termed respectively hard and soft soldering, are processes which correspond with soldering done at high and at low temperatures. The first embraces jointing effected with soldering mixtures into which copper, brass, or silver largely enter, the second those in which lead and tin are the only, or the principal, constituents. Some metals, as aluminium and cast iron, are less easily soldered than others. Aluminium, owing to its high conductivity, removes the heat from the solder rapidly. Aluminium enters into the composition of most of the solders for these metals, and the "soldering bit" is of pure nickel.

The hard solders are the spelter and the silver solders. Soft spelter solder is composed of equal parts of copper and zinc, melted and granulated and passed through a sieve. As some of the zinc volatilizes the ultimate proportions are not quite equal. The proportion of zinc is increased if the solder is required to be softer or more fusible. A valuable property of the zinc is that its volatilization indicates the fusing of the solder. Silver solder is used for jewelry and other fine metal work, arid has the advantage of high fusing points. The hardest contains from 4 parts of silver to 1 of copper; the softest 2 of silver to 1 of brass wire. Borax is the flux used, with silver solder as with spelter.

The soft solders are composed mainly of tin and lead. They occur in a large range. Common tinner's solder is composed of equal parts of tin and lead, and melts at 370 deg. Fah. Plumber's solder has 2 of lead to 1 of tin. Excess of lead in plumber's solder renders the solder difficult to work, excess of tin allows it to melt too easily. Pewterers add bismuth to render the solder more fusible, e.g. lead 4, tin 3, bismuth 2; or lead 1, tin 2, bismuth 1. Unless these are cooled quickly the bismuth separates out.

The essentials of a soldered joint are the contact of absolutely clean surfaces, free from oxide and dirt. The surfaces are therefore scraped, filed and otherwise treated, and then, in order to cleanse and preserve them from any trace of oxide which might form during subsequent manipulation, a fluxing material is used. The soldering material is compelled to follow the areas prepared for it by the flux, and it will not adhere anywhere else. There is much similarity between soldering and welding in this respect. A weld joint must as a rule be fluxed, or metal will not adhere to metal. There is not, however, the absolute need for fluxing that there is in soldered joints, and many welds in good fibrous iron are made without a flux. But the explanation here is that the metal is brought to a temperature of semifusion, and the shapes of joints are generally such that particles of scale are squeezed out from between the joint in the act of closing the weld. But in brazing and soldering the parts to be united are generally nearly cold, and only the soldering material is fused, so that the conditions are less favourable to the removal of oxide than in welding processes.

Fluxes are either liquid or solid, but the latter are not efficient until they fuse and cover the surfaces to be united. Hydrochloric acid (spirits of salts) is the one used chiefly for soft soldering. It is "killed" by the addition of a little zinc, the resulting chloride of zinc rendering its action quiet. Common fluxes are powdered resin, and tallow (used chiefly by plumbers for wiped joints). These, with others, are employed for soft solder joints, the temperature of which rarely exceeds about 600 deg. Fah. The best flux for zinc is chloride of zinc. For brazed joints, spelter or powdered brass is employed, and the flux is usually borax. The borax will not cover the joint until it has been deprived of its water of crystallization, and this is effected by raising it to a full red heat, when it swells in bulk, "boils," and afterwards sinks quietly and spreads over, or into the joint. There are differences in details of working. The borax is generally powdered and mixed with the spelter, and both with water. But sometimes they are applied separately, the borax first and over this the particles of spelter. Another flux used for copper is sal ammoniac, either alone or mixed with powdered resin.

As brazed joints often have to be very strong, other precautions are frequently taken beyond that of the mere overlapping of the joint edges. In pipes subjected to high steam pressures, and articles subjected to severe stresses, the joints are "cramped" before the solder is applied. That is, the edges are notched in a manner having somewhat the appearance of the dovetails of the carpenter; the notched portions overlap the opposite edges, and on alternate sides. Such joints when brazed are stronger than plain overlapping joints would be. Steam dome coverings are jointed thus longitudinally as cylinders, and the crown is jointed thereto, also by cramping. Another common method of union is that of flanges to copper pipes. In these the pipe passes freely within a hole bored right through the flange, and the solder is run between. The pipe is suspended vertically, flange downwards, and the spelter run in from the back of the flange. The fused borax works its way in by capillary action, and the spelter follows.

The "copper bit" is used in soft soldering. Its end is a prismatic pyramid of copper, riveted to an iron shank in a wooden handle. It is made hot, and the contained heat is sufficient to melt the solder. It has to be "tinned," by being heated to a dull red, filed, rubbed with sal ammoniac, and then rubbed upon the solder. It is wiped with tow before use. For small brazed work the blow-pipe is commonly employed; large works are done on the brazier's hearth, or in any clear coke fire. If coal is used it must be kept away from the joint.

In "sweating on," a variation in soldering, the surfaces to be united are cleaned, and solder melted and spread over them. They are then brought together, and the temperature raised sufficiently to melt the solder.

A detail of first importance is the essential difference between the melting points of the objects to be brazed or soldered, and that of the solder used. The latter must always be lower than the former. This explains why soldering materials are used in a large range of temperatures. A few will melt at the temperature of boiling water. At the other extreme 2000 deg. Fah. is required to melt a solder for brazing. If this point is neglected, it will often happen that the object to be soldered will fuse before the solder melts. This accident may occur in the soft Britannia and white metals at the one extreme, and in the softer brasses at the other. It would not do, for example, to use flanges of common brass, or even ordinary gun-metal, to be brazed to copper pipe, for they would begin to fuse before the joint was made. Such flanges must be made of nearly pure copper, to withstand the temperature, usually 98 of copper to 2 of tin (brazing metal). A most valuable feature in solder is that by varying the proportions of the metals used a great range in hardness and fusibility is obtainable. The useful solders therefore number many scores. This is also a source of danger, unless regard be had to the relative fusing points of solders, and of the parts they unite. (J. G. H.)

BRAZZA, PIERRE PAUL FRANCOIS CAMILLE SAVORGNAN DE, COUNT (1852-1905), French explorer and administrator, founder of French Congo, was born on board ship in the harbour of Rio de Janeiro on the 26th of January 1852. He was of Italian parentage, the family name being de Brazza Savorgnani. Through the instrumentality of the astronomer Secchi he was sent to the Jesuit college in Paris, and in 1868 obtained authorization to enter as a foreigner the marine college at Brest. In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 he took part in the operations of the French fleet. In 1874 when the warship on which he was serving was in the Gabun, Alfred Marche and the marquis de Compiegne arrived at Libreville from an expedition in the lower Ogowe district. Interested in the reports of these travellers, de Brazza conceived the idea of exploring the Ogowe, which he thought might prove to be the lower course of the Lualaba, a river then recently discovered by David Livingstone. Having meantime been naturalized as a Frenchman, de Brazza in 1875 obtained permission to undertake his African scheme, and with the naval doctor, Noel Ballay, he explored the Ogowe river. Penetrating beyond the basin of that river, he discovered the Alima and Likona, but did not descend either stream. Thence turning northwards the travellers eventually regained the coast at the end of November 1878, having left Paris in August 1875. On arrival in Paris, de Brazza learned of the navigation of the Congo by H.M. Stanley, and recognized that the rivers he had discovered were affluents of that stream.

De Brazza was anxious to obtain for France some part of the Congo. The French ministry, however, determined to utilize his energies in another quarter of Africa. Their attention had been drawn to the Niger through the formation of the United African Company by Sir George Goldie (then Mr Goldie Taubman) in July 1879, Goldie's object being to secure Nigeria for Great Britain. A new expedition was fitted out, and de Brazza left Paris at the end of 1879 with orders to go to the Niger, make treaties, and plant French flags. When on the point of sailing; from Lisbon he received a telegram cancelling these instructions, and altering his destination to the Congo. This was a decision of great moment. Had the Nigerian policy of France been maintained the International African Association (afterwards the Congo Free State) would have had a clear field on the Congo, while the young British Company would have been crushed out by French opposition; so that the two great basins of the Niger and the Congo would have had a vastly different history.

Acting on his new instructions, de Brazza, who was again accompanied by Ballay, reached the Gabun early in 1880. Rapidly ascending the Ogowe he founded the station of Franceville on the upper waters of that river and pushed on to the Congo at Stanley Pool, where Brazzaville was subsequently founded. With Makoko, chief of the Bateke tribe, de Brazza concluded treaties in September and October 1880, placing the country under French protection. With these treaties in his possession Brazza proceeded down the Congo, and at Isangila on the 7th of November met Stanley, who was working his way up stream concluding treaties with the chiefs on behalf of the International African Association. De Brazza spent the next eighteen months exploring the hinterland of the Gabun, and returned to France in June 1882. The ratification by the French chambers in the following November of the treaties with Makoko (described by Stanley as worthless pieces of paper) committed France to the action of her agent.

Furnished with funds by the French government, de Brazza returned in 1883 to the Congo to open up the new colony, of which he was named commissioner-general in 1886. This post he held until January 1898, when he was recalled. During his period of office the work of exploration was systematically carried out by numerous expeditions which he organized. The incessant demands on the resources of the infant colony for these and other expeditions to the far interior greatly retarded its progress. De Brazza's administration was severely criticized; but that its comparative failure was largely due to inadequate support from the home authorities was recognized in the grant to him in 1902 of a pension by the chambers. Both as explorer and administrator his dealings with the natives were marked by consideration, kindness and patience, and he earned the title of "Father of the Slaves." His efforts to connect the upper Congo with the Atlantic by a railway through French territory showed that he understood the chief economic needs of the colony. After seven years of retirement in France de Brazza accepted, in February 1905, a mission to investigate charges of cruelty to natives brought against officials of the Congo colony. Having concluded his inquiry he sailed for France, but died at Dakar, Senegal, on the 4th of September 1905. His body was taken to Paris for burial, but in 1908 was reinterred at Algiers.

See D. Neuville et Ch. Breard, _Les Voyages de Savorgnan de Brazza, Ogooue et Congo, 1875-1882_ (Paris, 1884), and _Conferences et lettres de P. Savorgnan de Brazza sur ses trois explorations dans l'ouest africain de 1875 a 1886_ (Paris, 1887); A.J. Wauters, "Savorgnan de Brazza et la conquete du Congo francais," in _Le Mouvement geographique_, vol. xxii., No. 39 (Brussels, 1905). Giacomo or Jacques de Brazza (1859-1883), a younger brother of Savorgnan, and one of the men he employed in the work of exploration, published in collaboration with his companion A. Pecile, _Tre Anni e mezzo nella regione del Congo e dell' Ogowe_ (Rome, 1887). (G. T. G.)

BRAZZA (Serbo-Croatian, _Brac;_ Lat. _Brattia_), an island in the Adriatic Sea, forming part of Dalmatia, Austria. Pop. (1900) 24,408. With an area of 170 sq. m. Brazza is the largest of the Dalmatian Islands; it is also the most thickly populated, and one of the most fertile. Its closely cultivated surface though ragged and mountainous yields an abundance of olives, figs, almonds and saffron, while its wines are of good quality. The corn-crop, however, barely suffices for three months' food. Other local industries are fishing and silkworm-rearing. The most important among twenty small villages on the island is Milna (pop. 2579), a steamship station, provided with shipwrights' wharves. The early history of Brazza is obscure. In the first years of the 13th century it was ruled by the piratical counts of Almissa; but after a successful revolt and a brief period of liberty it came under the dominion of Hungary. From 1413 to 1416 it was subject to Ragusa; and in 1420 it passed, with the greater part of Dalmatia, under Venetian sovereignty.

BREACH (Mid. Eng. _breche_, derived from the common Teutonic root _brec_, which appears in "break," Ger. _brechen_, &c.), in general, a breaking, or an opening made by breaking; in law, the infringement of a right or the violation of an obligation or duty. The word is used in various phrases: _breach of close_, the unlawful entry upon another person's land (see TRESPASS); _breach of covenant or contract_, the non-fulfilment of an agreement either to do or not to do some act (see DAMAGES); _breach of the peace_, a disturbance of the public order (see PEACE, BREACH OF); _breach of pound_, the taking by force out of a pound things lawfully impounded (see POUND); _breach of promise of marriage_, the non-fulfilment of a contract mutually entered into by a man and a woman that they will marry each other (see MARRIAGE); _breach of trust_, any deviation by a trustee from the duty imposed upon him by the instrument creating the trust (_q.v_.).

BREAD, the name given to the staple food-product prepared by the baking of flour. The word itself, O. Eng. _bread_, is common in various forms to many Teutonic languages; cf. Ger. _Brot_, Dutch, _brood_, and Swed. and Dan. _brot_; it has been derived from the root of "brew," but more probably is connected with the root of "break," for its early uses are confined to "broken pieces, or bits" of bread, the Lat. _frustum_, and it was not till the 12th century that it took the place, as the generic name of bread, of _hlaf_, "loaf," which appears to be the oldest Teutonic name, cf. Old High Ger. _hleib_, and modern Ger. _Laib_.

_History._--Bread-baking, or at any rate the preparation of cakes from flour or parched grain by means of heat, is one of the most ancient of human arts. At Wangen and Robenhausen have been found the calcined remains of cakes made from coarsely-ground grain in Swiss lake-dwellings that date back to the Stone Age. The cakes were made of different kinds of grain, barley and one-grained wheat (_Triticum monococcum_) being among the ingredients. This bread was made, not from fine meal, but from grain crushed between some hard surfaces, and in these lake-dwellings many round-shaped stones have been found, which were evidently used for pounding or crushing grain against the surface, more or less concave, of another stone (see FLOUR AND FLOUR MANUFACTURE). Perhaps the earliest form of bread, if that word may be used, was prepared from acorns and beech nuts. To this day a sort of cake prepared from crushed acorns is eaten by the Indians of the Pacific slopes. The flour extracted from acorns is bitter and unfit to eat till it has been thoroughly soaked in boiling water. The saturated flour is squeezed into a kind of cake and dried in the sun. Pliny speaks of a similar crude process in connexion with wheat; the grain was evidently pounded, and the crushed remnant, soaked into a sort of pulp, then made into a cake and dried in the sun. Virgil (_Georgics_, i. 267) refers to the husbandman first torrefying and then crushing his grain between stones:--"_Nunc torrete igni fruges, nunc frangite saxo._"

The question naturally arises, how did the lake-dwellers bake their cakes of bruised grain? Probably the dough was laid on a flat or convex-shaped stone, which was heated, while the cake was covered with hot ashes. Stones have been found among prehistoric remains which were apparently used for this purpose. In ancient Egyptian tombs cakes of durra have been found, of concave shape, suggesting the use of such baking-slabs; here the cake was evidently prepared from coarsely-cracked grain. In primitive times milling and baking were twin arts. The housewife, and the daughters or handmaids, crushed or ground the grain and prepared the bread or cakes. When Abraham entertained the angels unawares (Genesis xviii.) he bade his wife Sarah "make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth." Professor Maspero says that an oven for baking bread was to be found in the courtyard of every house in Chaldaea; close by were kept the grinding stones. That bread prepared by means of leaven was known in the days of the patriarchs may be fairly inferred from the passage in Genesis ML, where it is said of Lot that he "made a feast, and did bake unleavened bread." Whether the shew-bread of the Jewish tabernacle was leavened is an open question, but it is significant that the Passover cakes eaten by Jews to-day, known as Matzos, are innocent of leaven. Made from flour and water only, they are about 12 in. in diameter, and have somewhat the look of water biscuits.

The ancient Egyptians carried the art of baking to high perfection. Herodotus remarks of them, "dough they knead with their feet, but clay with their hands." The practice of using the feet for dough kneading, however repulsive, long persisted in Scotland, if indeed it is yet defunct. The Egyptians used for their bread, wheat, spelt, barley and durra (sorghum). In the opinion of Dr Wallis Budge, barley was in Egypt the grain of most primitive culture. However that may be, it is certain that even in ancient Egypt white bread made from wheat was used by the rich. The form of the bread is revealed by ancient monuments. A common shape was a small, round loaf, something like the muffin of to-day. Other loaves were elongated rolls, and curiously enough were sprinkled on the top with seeds like modern Vienna bread.

The history of baking in classical Greece and Italy can be clearly traced. Athenaeus in his _Deipnosophists_ minutely describes many different kinds of bread, which may be assumed to have been currently used in Greece. According to Pliny (_Nat. Hist_, xviii. II. S 28) Rome had no public bakers till after the war with Perseus (171-168 B.C.). That long after public bakehouses came into use the Romans and other urban dwellers in Italy continued to make a great deal of bread at home is certain. In Pompeii several private houses had their own mill and bakehouse. That city must also have possessed bakers by trade, as loaves of bread have been found, round in form, and stamped with the maker's name, possibly to fix responsibility for weight and purity. In the time of the Republic, public bakehouses were under the control of the aediles. Grain was delivered to the public granaries by the _Saccarii_, while another body called _Catabolenses_ distributed the grain to the bakers. The latter were known as _Pistores_ or "pounders," a reminiscence no doubt of the primitive time when grain was pounded by a pestle in a mortar. Slaves were largely employed in the irksome work of grinding, and when Constantine abolished slavery the staff of the _pistrinae_ was largely recruited from criminals. The emperor Trajan incorporated about A.D. 100 the college of _Pistores_ (millers and bakers), but its members were employers, not operatives. The work of a bakery is depicted in a set of bas-reliefs on the tomb of a master Pistor named Eurysaces, who flourished about a century before the foundation of the college. Here the grain is being brought and paid for; mills driven by horse and ass (or mule) power are busy; men are sieving out the bran from the flour by hand (bolters); bakers are moulding loaves on a board; an oven of domelike shape is being charged by means of a shovel (peel); and baskets of bread are being weighed on the one hand and carried off on men's backs on the other.

_Regulation of Sale._--In the middle ages bakers were subjected to special regulations in all European lands. These regulations were supposed to be conceived in the interests of bread consumers, and no doubt were intended to secure fair dealing on the part of bread vendors. The legislators appear, however, to have been unduly biased against the baker, who was often beset by harassing restrictions. Bakers were formed into gilds, which were under the control, not only of their own officials, but of the municipality. In London the bakers formed a brotherhood as early as 1155, and were incorporated in 1307. There were two distinct corporate bodies concerned with bread-making, the Company of White Bakers and the Company of Brown Bakers; these were nominally united in 1509, but the union did not become complete till the middle of the 17th century. In Austria, bakers who offended against police regulations respecting the sale of bread were liable, until comparatively recent times, to fine, imprisonment and even corporal punishment. In Turkey the lot of the baker was very hard. Baron de Tott, writing of Constantinople in the 18th century, says that it was usual, when bread went to famine prices, to hang a baker or two. He would have us believe that it was the custom of master bakers to keep a second hand, who, in consideration of a small increase of his weekly wage, was willing to appear before the cadi in case a victim were wanted. A barbarous punishment, inflicted in Turkey and in Egypt on bakers who sold light or adulterated bread, consisted in nailing the culprit by his ear to the door-post of his shop. In France a decree of 1863 relieved bakers from many of the restrictions under which they previously suffered, but it did not touch the powers of the municipalities to regulate the quality and sale of bread. It left them the right conferred in 1791, to enforce the _taxe du pain_, the object of which was to prevent bakers from increasing the price of bread beyond a point justified by the price of the raw materials; but the right was exercised on their own responsibility, subject to appeal to higher authorities, and by a circular issued in 1863 they were invited to abolish this _taxe officielle_. In places where it exists it is fixed every week or fortnight, according to the average price of grain in the local markets.

In England an act of parliament was passed in 1266 for regulating the price of bread by a public assize, and that system continued in operation till 1822 in the case of the city of London, and till 1836 for the rest of the country. The price of bread was determined by adding a certain sum to the price of every quarter of flour, to cover the baker's expenses and profit; and for the sum so arrived at tradesmen were required to bake and sell eighty quartern loaves or a like proportion of other sizes, which it was reckoned each quarter of flour ought to yield. The acts now regulating the manufacture and sale of bread in Great Britain are one of 1822 (Sale of Bread in the City of London and within 10 m. of the Royal Exchange), and the Bread Act of 1836, as to sale of bread beyond 10 m. of the Royal Exchange. The acts require that bread shall be sold by weight, and in no other manner, under a penalty not exceeding forty shillings. This does not, however, mean that a seller is bound to sell at any particular weight; the words quartern and half-quartern, though commonly used and taken to indicate a 4-lb. and 2-lb. loaf respectively, have no legal sanction. That is to say, a baker is not bound to sell a loaf weighing either 4 lb. or 2; all he has to do, when a customer asks for a loaf, is to put one on the scale, weigh it, and declare the weight. When bread is sold over the counter it is usual for the vendor to cut off and tender a piece of bread to make up any deficiency in the loaf. This is known as the "overweight." There is little doubt the somewhat misty wording of the bread acts lends itself to a good deal of fraudulent dealing. For instance, when bread is sold over the counter, two loaves may be 5 or 6 oz. short, while the piece of makeweight may not reach an ounce. The customer sees the bread put on the scale, but in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred does not trouble to verify the weight, and unless he expressly asks for 2 lb. or some specific weight of bread, it is very doubtful whether the seller, having satisfied the letter of the law by placing the bread on the scales, could be convicted of fraud. The provision as to selling by weight does not apply to fancy bread and rolls. No exact definition of "fancy bread" has ever been laid down, and it must be largely a question of fact in each particular case. All bakers or sellers of bread must use avoirdupois weight, and must provide, in a conspicuous place in the shop, beams, scales and weights, in order that all bread there sold may from time to time be weighed in the presence of the purchaser. The penalty for using any other weight than avoirdupois is a sum not exceeding L5 nor less than forty shillings, and for failing to provide beams and scales a sum not exceeding L5. Also every baker and seller of bread, delivering by cart or other conveyance, must be provided with scales and weights for weighing bread; but since the Weights and Measures Act 1889, no penalty is incurred by omission to weigh, unless there has been a request on the part of the purchaser. The acts also define precisely what ingredients may be employed in the manufacture of bread, and impose a penalty not exceeding L10 nor less than L5 for the adulteration of bread. (See further under ADULTERATION.)

Although the act of 1836 extends to the whole of the United Kingdom (Ireland excepted) out of the city of London and beyond 10 m. of the Royal Exchange, yet in many Scottish burghs this act is replaced by local acts on the sale of bread. These are in all cases of a much more stringent nature, requiring all batch or household bread to be stamped with the reputed weight. Any deficiency within a certain time from the withdrawal of the bread from the oven is an offence. The London County Council desired to introduce a similar system into the area under their jurisdiction, and promoted a bill to that effect in 1905, but it fell through. The bill was opposed not only by the National Association of Master Bakers, the London Master Bakers' Protection Society, and by the West End metropolitan bakers in a body, but also by the Home Office, which objected to what it termed exceptional legislation.

It may be noted that the acts of 1822 and 1836 define precisely what may and may not be sold as bread. It is laid down in section 2 that "it shall and may be lawful ... to make and sell ... bread made of flour or meal of wheat, barley, rye, oats, buckwheat, Indian corn, peas, beans, rice or potatoes, or any of them, and with any (common) salt, pure water, eggs, milk, barm, leaven, potato or other yeast, and mixed in such proportions as they shall think fit, and with no other ingredients or matter whatsoever."

_Sanitation of Bakehouses._--The sanitary arrangements of bakehouses in England were first regulated by the Bakehouse Regulation Act 1863, which was repealed and replaced by the Factory and Workshop Act 1878; this act, with various amending acts, was in turn repealed and replaced by the Factory and Workshop Act 1901. By the act of 1901 a bakehouse is defined as a place in which are baked bread, biscuits or confectionery, from the baking or selling of which a profit is derived. The act of 1863 placed the sanitary supervision of bakehouses in the hands of local authorities; from 1878 to 1883 supervision was in the hands of inspectors of factories, but in 1883 the supervision of retail bakehouses was placed in the hands of local authorities. Under the act of 1901 the supervision of bakehouses which are "workshops" is carried out by local authorities, and for the purposes of the act every bakehouse is a workshop unless within it, or its close or curtilage or precincts, steam, water or other mechanical power is used in aid of the manufacturing process carried on there, in which case it is treated as a non-textile factory, and is under the supervision of factory inspectors.

The more important regulations laid down by the act are: (1) No water-closet, &c., must be within or communicate directly with the bakehouse; every cistern for supplying water to the bakehouse must be separate and distinct from any cistern supplying a water-closet; no drain or pipe for carrying off sewage matter shall have an opening within the bakehouse. (2) The interior of all bakehouses must be limewashed, painted or varnished at stated periods. (3) No place on the same level with a bakehouse or forming part of the same building may be used as a sleeping place, unless specially constructed to meet the requirements of the act. (4) No underground bakehouse (one of which the floor is more than 3 ft. below the surface of the footway of the adjoining street) shall be used unless certified by the district council as suitable for the purpose (see Redgrave, _Factory Acts_; Evans Austin, _Factory Acts_).

_Bread Sluffs._--As compared with wheat-flour, all other materials used for making bread are of secondary importance. Rye bread is largely consumed in some of the northern parts of Europe, and cakes of maize meal are eaten in the United States. In southern Europe the meal of various species of millet is used, and in India and China durra and other cereal grains are baked for food. Of non-cereal flour, the principal used for bread-making is buckwheat (_Fagopyrum esculentum_), extensively employed in Russia, Holland and the United States. The flour of pease, beans and other leguminous seeds is also baked into cakes, and in South America the meal of the tapioca plant, _Jatropha Manihot_, is employed. But, excepting rye, none of these substances is used for making vesiculated or fermented bread.

Quality of flour.

A normal sample of wheat-flour consists roughly of 10 parts of moisture, 72 of starch, 14 of nitrogenous matter, 2.25 of fatty matters, and 1.75% of mineral matter. Starch is thus the predominating component; it is not, however, the dough-forming ingredient. By itself, starch, when saturated with water, forms a putty-like mass devoid of coherence, and it is the gluten of the nitrogenous matter which is the binding constituent in dough-making, because when wetted it forms a more or less elastic body. The proportion of gluten in wheat-flour varies from 7 to 15%, but the mere quantity of gluten is by no means the only standard of the commercial value of the flour, the quality also counting for much. One of the functions of gluten is to produce a high or well-piled loaf, and its value for this purpose depends largely on its quality. This is turn depends largely on the variety of wheat; certain races of wheat are much richer in nitrogenous elements than others, but such wheats usually only flourish in certain countries. Soil and climate are undoubtedly factors in modifying the character of wheat, and necessarily therefore of the flour. The same wheat grown in the same soil will show very varying degrees of strength (i.e. of gluten) in different seasons. For instance, the north-western districts of America grow a hard spring wheat which in a normal season is of almost unequalled strength. In 1904 an excess of moisture and deficiency in sun in the Red River Valley during the critical months of June and July caused a serious attack of red and black rust in these wheat fields, the disease being more virulent in the American than the Canadian side of the valley. The result was that the quality of the gluten of that season's American spring wheat was most seriously affected, its famed strength being almost gone. Wheat from the Canadian side was also affected, but not nearly to so great an extent. Flour milled from hard winter wheat in the American winter districts is sometimes nearly as strong as the spring wheat of the North-west. Hungarian flour milled from Theis wheat is also very strong, and so is the flour milled from some south Russian spring wheats. But here again the degree of strength will vary from season to season in a remarkable manner. In the main each land has its own clearly marked type of wheat. While the United States, Canada, Hungary and Russia are each capable of growing strong wheat, Great Britain, France and Germany produce wheat more or less weak. It follows that the bread baked from flour milled from wheat from British, French or German wheat alone would not make a loaf of sufficient volume, judged by present British standards. As a matter of fact, except in some country districts, British bakers either use strong foreign flour to blend with English country flour, or, more frequently, they are supplied with flour by British millers milled from a blend in which very often English wheat has a small, or no place at all. If the baker's trade calls for the making of household bread, especially of the London type, he must use a strong flour, with plenty of staple gluten in it, because it is this element which supplies the driving or lifting force, without which a high, bold loaf cannot be produced. If the demand is for tin or (as it is called in many parts of the north of England) pan bread, a weaker flour will suffice, as the tin will keep it up. A Vienna loaf should be made with at least a certain proportion of Hungarian patent flour, which is normally the highest-priced flour in the market, though probably the bulk of the Vienna rolls made in London contain no Hungarian flour. A cake of flat shape can be very well made with a rather weak flour, but any cake that is required to present a domed top cannot be prepared without a flour of some strength.

Flavour of flour.

It is a general opinion, though contested by some authorities, that soft, weak flours contain more flavour than strong, harsh flours. The strong wheats of the American and Canadian North-West make less flavoury flour than soft red winter from the American South-West. It would not, however, be correct to say that all strong wheats are necessarily less full of flavour than weak wheats. Hungarian wheat, for instance, is one of the strongest wheats of the world, but has a characteristic and pleasant flavour of its own. Indian wheats, on the other hand, are not particularly strong, but are liable to give a rather harsh flavour to the bread. English, French and German wheats, when harvested in good condition, produce flour of more or less agreeable flavour. None of these wheats could be classified as strong, though from each of those lands wheat of fair strength may be obtained under favourable meteorological conditions. The Australasian continent raises white wheat of fine quality which has much affinity with British wheat--it is the descendant in many cases of seed wheats imported from England--but it is occasionally stronger. The resultant flour is noted for its sweetness. Both millers and bakers who are concerned with the supply of high-class bread and flour make free use of what may be termed flavoury wheats. The proportion of English wheat used in London mills is very small, but millers who supply West-End bakeries with what is known as top-price flour are careful to use a certain amount of English wheat, if it is to be had in prime condition. They term this ingredient of their mixture "sugar." London bakers again, with customers who appreciate nicely flavoured bread, will "pitch" into their trough a certain proportion of English country flour, that is, flour milled entirely or chiefly from English wheat, which under such conditions is strengthened by a blend of strong flour, a patent flour for choice. It has been objected that as English wheat contains a large proportion of starch, and as starch is admittedly destitute of flavour, there is no reason why flour milled from English wheat should possess a sweeter flavour than any other starchy wheat flour. Experience, however, has amply proved that well-ripened English wheat produces bread with an agreeable flavour, though it does not follow that all English wheat is under all conditions capable of baking bread of the highest quality. But it would be as fallacious to hold that weak flour is necessarily flavoury, as that all strong flour is insipid and harsh. Different wheats are undoubtedly possessed of different flavours, but not all these flavours are of a pleasing character. In some cases the very reverse is true. Californian and Australian wheats have occasionally aromatic odours, due to the presence of certain seeds, that will impart an objectionable flavour to the resultant bread.

While the essential character of particular wheats will account for a good deal of the flavour that may be detected in the bread made from them, the baking process must also be responsible to some extent for flavour. The temperature of the oven and the degree of fermentation must be factors in the question. It has been asserted that the same flour will bake into bread of very different flavour according as the fermentation is carried out slowly or quickly, or as the oven is hot or the reverse. A high temperature seems to have the effect of quickly drawing out the subtle essences which go to give flavour to the bread, but it is a question whether they are not subsequently rapidly volatilized and partially or wholly lost. The rapid formation of a solid crust is no doubt likely to retain some of these flavouring essences. A moist, or "slack," sponge, or dough, appears distinctly favourable to the retention of flavour, the theory being that under such conditions the yeast, having more room to "breathe," works more easily, and is therefore less likely to convert into food those soluble constituents of the flour which give flavour.

Colour of flour.

The colour of flour is a valuable, though not an infallible, index to its baking qualities. Thus, a flour of good colour, by which bakers mean a flour of bright appearance, white, but not a dull dead white, will usually bake into a loaf of good appearance. At the same time, a flour of pronounced white tint may bake into a dirty grey loaf. This has been particularly noted in the case of flours milled in Argentina. The colour of flour will vary from a rich, creamy white to a dull grey, according to its quality. The different shades are many and various, but the prevailing tints are comparatively few. Perhaps Blandy's classification of the colours as white, yellow, red, brown and grey is as serviceable as any. Each of these tints is directly caused by the presence of certain substances. White denotes the presence of a considerable proportion of starch, while a pronounced yellow tint proclaims gluten of more or less good quality. Red and brown are tints only found in flours of low grade, because they are sure proofs of an undue proportion of branny or fibrous particles. A greyish flour invariably contains impurities, such as crease dirt, from the wheat, the intensity of the tint varying in proportion to their amount. With regard to a yellow tint, though this always denotes the presence of gluten, it is difficult to estimate the baking quality of the flour by the shade of yellow. In the best Hungarian patent flour the whole sample will be suffused by an amber tint, known to Budapest and Vienna bakers as _gelblicher Stich_. Rolls baked from the best Hungarian flour will not infrequently cut yellow as if eggs had been used in making them up, though nothing more than flour, yeast and water has been employed. Strong flour milled from American or Canadian spring wheat is also yellowish in colour, but the tint is not so deep as with Hungarian flour. On the other hand, there are flours of no great strength, such as those from some Australian wheats, which are apt to look yellow. When the colour of flour is not maintained in the bread, the reason is generally to be found in the baking process employed. Colour is a fairly trustworthy, but not an absolute guide to the chemical composition of flour.

Damp and flour.

Unfortunately not all flour of good colour is sound for bread-making purposes. Wheat which has been harvested in a damp condition, or has been thoroughly soaked, by drenching showers previous to cutting, or has got wet in the stook, is liable, unless carefully handled, to produce flour that will only bake flat, sodden loaves. Wheat which has received too much rain as it is approaching maturity, and has then been exposed to strong sunlight, is peculiarly liable to sprout. This seems to happen not infrequently to La Plata wheat, and though wheat shippers in that country are usually careful to clean off the little green spikes, this outward cleansing does not remedy the mischief wrought to the internal constitution of the berry. Such wheat makes flour lacking in strength and stability. Its gluten is immature and low in percentage, while the soluble albuminoids are in high percentage and in a more or less active diastasic state. The starch granules are liable to have weakened or fissured walls, and the proportion of moisture and of soluble extract will be high. With regard to the beneficial action of kiln or other drying on damp flour, William Jago was convinced by a series of experiments that the gentle artificial drying of flour increases its water-absorbing capacity to about three times the amount of water lost by evaporation. On the other hand, a damp flour dried too quickly and at too great a heat is liable to be made more instead of less susceptible to diastasic changes.

_Alum._--Strictly speaking, when employed with weak and unstable flours alum is a remedial agent. The popular idea that it acts as a kind of bleacher of flour, having the faculty of converting flour that is dark-coloured through containing a sensible proportion of branny particles and woody fibre, into white-coloured loaves, is erroneous. Its action as a producer of white bread is indirect, not direct, though it is none the less effective. It seems to act as a brace to or steadier of unstable gluten. If from the same wheat a certain proportion of gluten be extracted and divided into two parts, of which one is placed in a glass of water containing a strong solution of alum, and the other in a glass of plain water, the gluten in the latter case will become spent days and perhaps weeks before the sample in the alumed water is disintegrated. The place of alum in the process of fermentation is well marked. By holding together unstable gluten, it checks the diastasic action, and the proportion of starch converted into glucose (grape sugar) is reduced, with the result that a whiter and more porous loaf is produced. It is generally admitted that by the use of alum more or less eatable bread may be baked from flour which otherwise could hardly be made into bread at all. Strictly, therefore, this substance is not an adulterant, inasmuch as it is not a substitute in any sense for flour. But it is admittedly unwholesome, and therefore its legal interdiction for alimentary purposes is quite justifiable. Another aspect of the use of alum is that it is employed for the purpose of enabling bakers to use poor flour.

A fairly satisfactory test for alum in bread (or flour) is afforded by an alkaline solution of logwood and a saturated solution of ammonium carbonate. The presence of alum is shown by a lavender or full blue colour. The depth of the tint is said to be a rough guide to the quantity of alum present. According to Jago this test is so sensitive that it has resulted in the detection of 7 grains of alum in a 4-lb loaf.

Besides alum, small quantities of copper sulphate have been used for checking diastasis and retarding fermentation. This substance has the same effect as alum, but as all copper salts are active poisons, the employment of copper sulphate is most strongly to be condemned.

_Lime-water._--The object of using either alum or copper sulphate is to check over-rapid diastasis during fermentation. Baron Liebig pointed out a much less objectionable means of attaining the same end by means of lime-water, about 1-1/2 oz. of fresh quicklime being dissolved in the water used for doughing one sack of flour. Bread made in this way is said to be spongy in texture, of agreeable flavour, and perfectly free from acidity. In the baked loaf the lime is transformed into calcium carbonate (chalk) by the carbon dioxide resulting from the panary fermentation. It is said that an increased yield of bread may be obtained by the use of lime-water; the explanation may be that lime-water, by retarding the degradation of the gluten and the diastasis of the starch, increases the water-retaining power of the flour, so that the same weight of flour yields a greater volume of bread.

_Unvesiculated and Vesiculated Bread._--Wheaten bread may be divided into two main divisions, unvesiculated and vesiculated. The term vesiculated simply means provided with vesicles, or small membranous cavities, such as are found in all bread that has been treated by yeast, leaven or any other agent for rendering it spongiform in structure by the action of carbonic acid gas. Nearly all bread eaten by civilized folk is vesiculated, though there are different methods and processes for attaining this result. Into the category of unvesiculated bread enter such products as the Australian damper, a flat cake prepared from flour, water and salt, and baked in the hot ashes of a wood fire. The dough is spread on a flat stone and covered with a tin plate, while the hot ashes are heaped around and over it; the heat should not be much in excess of 212 deg. Fahr. The scone, the bannock and other similar cakes, still much appreciated in Scotland and the north of England, are also examples of unvesiculated bread. They are baked on hot plates or "griddles," on hearths, and sometimes in ovens. Biscuits differ from these cakes in the fact that they are baked by a high instead of a moderate heat. But they enter so far into the class of unvesiculated bread that they are generally prepared without the aid of any such aerating agent as carbon dioxide. (See BISCUIT.)

Vesiculated bread is now the only article of diet made from flour to which the term bread is applied, and there are various ways of producing the spongiform texture by which it is characterized. The ordinary and doubtless the most satisfactory way is by developing the carbon dioxide within the dough itself by the use of yeast (q.v.) or leaven, which sets up alcoholic fermentation, splitting up the saccharine matters in the flour into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The latter is retained by the dough and distends it, causing the bread to "rise." Or the carbon dioxide may be artificially introduced, as in the so-called "aerated" bread (see below), or it may be produced by the agency of certain chemicals, as for instance of baking powders.

Baking powders.

Such powders are mixtures which, under the influence of either water or heat, evolve carbon dioxide. These powders have been divided by Jago into three groups:--(1) _Tartrate_ powders, in which the acid constituent is either free or partly combined tartaric acid; (2) _Phosphate_ powders, in which the acid is some form of phosphoric acid; (3) _Alum_ powders. All these powders have a more or less aperient action on the human system. Tartrate powders have the disadvantage that both commercial tartaric acid and cream of tartar frequently contain lead, a poisonous substance. Phosphate powders are less open to objection, as they are more easy to obtain free from lead and other metallic impurities. Alum powders contain potassium bisulphate and alum. It is somewhat remarkable that while the presence of alum in bread is regarded by the law of England as adulteration, its use in baking powder was pronounced legal in _James_ v. _Jones_, 1894, 1, Q.B. 304, on the ground that baking powder is not food within the meaning of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act 1875. In making wholemeal bread, hydrochloric acid and sodium bicarbonate are often used in such proportions that they neutralize each other. Carbon dioxide is evolved and raises the dough. In preparing wholemeal bread the use of this combination has the advantage that the acid acting rapidly on the sodium bicarbonate soon produces enough carbon dioxide to aerate the dough, and thus hasten its entry into the oven. Wholemeal flour contains so large a proportion of cerealin that diastasis is apt to proceed rapidly, the result being a clammy, sodden loaf. For this reason, perhaps the so-called aerated process is even more suitable for making wholemeal than white bread.

Methods of making dough.

Methods of dough-making differ in different countries, and even in different parts of the same land. In the _off hand_ method the dough is made right off, without any preliminary stages of ferment or sponge. This plan is sometimes adopted for making tin bread, and occasionally for crusty loaves. For tin bread a strong flour would be used and made into a slack dough, and about 1-1/2 lb. to 2 lb. of distillers' yeast would be used for the sack (280 lb.) of flour, occasionally with the addition of a little brewers' yeast. Salt is used in the proportion of 3 lb. to 3-1/2 lb. per sack. Formerly also it was the custom to add 10-14 lb. of boiled potatoes, but the use of potatoes has greatly decreased. A tin-bread dough would be made slack, with about 70 quarts of water to the sack, and after being mixed, would be fermented at a temperature of 76-80 deg. Fahr. It should lie for about ten hours. A dough for crusty bread such as cottage loaves, would be made much tighter, not more than 60 quarts of water being allowed to the sack. It would be fermented at a higher temperature, and would not lie more than about six hours. A slack dough is much less laborious to work (when the dough is hand-made) than a tight dough, for which a mechanical kneader is very suitable, but as a matter of fact the use of machinery (see below) is still the exception, not the rule. When a stiff dough is made by hand, it is usually made somewhat slack to begin with, and then "cut back" and "dusted" at regular intervals, that is to say, more and more flour is added till a dough of the required consistency has been obtained. (In the British baker's vocabulary "dust" means flour, and good dust stands for good flour.) This system, on the one hand, saves the labour involved for "sponging" and other operations, and the bread is produced in less time; but on the other hand more yeast is used, and bakers generally hold that the system sacrifices the colour and texture of the loaf to convenience of working and yield. The high porportion of yeast enables the dough to carry a large quantity of water, and about 104 4-lb. loaves to the sack is said by Jago to be a not unusual yield in the case of slack doughs. But such a result would only be possible with very strong flour. In an ordinary way 96 loaves to the sack is a very high yield, unattainable except with strong flour, and probably the average yield is not more than 90 loaves to the sack. In London the manager of a "tied" shop is usually held to account for 92 loaves to the sack.

In the _ferment and dough_ system, the ferment usually consists of 10 to 14 lb. of potatoes to the sack of flour, boiled or steamed, and mashed with water, so as to yield about 3 gallons of liquor. There are several substitutes for potatoes, including raw and scalded flour, malt, malt extracts, &c.; brewers' or distillers' yeast may also be used. A ferment should contain saccharine matters and yeast stimulants in such a form as to favour the growth and reproduction of yeast in a vigorous condition. Hence it should not be too concentrated. About six hours are required for its preparation. It is added, together with 2 to 3 lb. of salt, to the dough, which is prepared with about 56 quarts of water to the sack, and worked at a temperature of 80-84 deg. Fahr. The dough is allowed to lie from two to five hours according to the flour used, the character of the ferment, and the working temperature. In this system the proportion of strong flour is usually reduced to 40% of the dough, and no doubt in some cases only soft or weak flours are used. Naturally the yield of bread is not so high as in the case of an off hand dough made entirely from strong flour, and it will probably not exceed 90 loaves to the sack. This method has many advantages. After the ferment is made the labour required is not much greater than with the off hand doughs, and less yeast is required, while potatoes, which are somewhat troublesome, from the necessary cleaning, can be replaced by the substitutes already mentioned. The method produces good-looking and palatable bread, though the loaves should be eaten within some twelve hours of leaving the oven.

The _sponge and dough_ system, which is probably in widest use in England, is adapted to almost every kind of bread, and has the advantage that any kind of flour can be employed. The stronger flours which need long fermentation can be and usually are used in the "sponge" stage, while soft flours are utilized in the dough. (The sponge is a certain proportion, varying from a quarter to one-half, of the flour necessary for making the batch.) In London the baker often uses for the sponge a bag (140 lb) of American spring wheat flour, and for the dough a sack (280 lb) of British milled flour, which, whether it be country flour milled largely from English wheat or London milled, is always softer and weaker than that used for the sponge. The sponge is made very slack, 26 to 32 quarts of water being used to say 100 lb. of flour. Yeast, either distillers' or brewers', must be added, in proportions varying according to its character and strength. Of distillers' yeast 6 to 10 oz. may be used for 280 lb. of flour (including sponge and dough). Salt is added to the sponge sparingly, at the rate of about 1/2 lb. to the sack of 280 lb. The object of making the sponge so slack is to quicken the fermentation. When set the sponge is allowed to ferment from six to ten hours, according to temperature and other conditions. Sometimes all the water it is intended to use is put into the sponge, which is then known as a "batter" sponge. The sponge, when ready, is incorporated with the rest of the flour to which the necessary amount of water and salt is added. The whole mass is then doughed up into the requisite consistency, the dough being allowed to lie for about two hours. Bread made by this method, always assuming that over-fermentation has been avoided, is of good appearance, presenting a bold loaf, with even texture and a nice sheen. Owing to the use of soft flours, the flavour should be agreeable, and the loaves ought to keep much longer than bread made by ferment and dough. The yield may rise as high as 96 loaves per sack, if strong flour has been used in the sponge.

A combination of the above two methods, known as the _ferment, sponge and dough_ system, is often used with brewers' yeast. In this case the yeast is not added to the sponge direct, but goes into the ferment. This method is rather in favour with bakers who make their own yeast.

The system of bread-making generally used in Scotland is known as the _flour barm, sponge and dough_. The barm is a combination of a malt and hop yeast, with a slow, scalded flour ferment. To make the so-called "virgin" barm a Scottish baker would use a 30-gallon tub; a smaller vessel for malt-mashing; 10 lb. malt; 3 oz. hops and a jar for infusing them; 40 lb flour; 2 to 3 oz. malt; 8 to 12 oz. sugar, and 18 gallons of boiling water. With these materials a powerful ferment is produced, which it is considered best to use in the sponge the fourth or fifth day after brewing. The sponges used in Scotland are "half" or "quarter." About 6 lb. of malt go to the sack, one-sixth going into the sponge. As in England, strong flours are used for the sponge, but rather stronger flours are used for the dough than is usual in England. Scottish loaves are largely of the "brick" type, high and narrow. Such bread has an attractive appearance and keeps well. It has a rather sharp flavour, approaching acidity but avoiding sourness, while the large quantity of malt used adds a characteristic taste. The yield rises in some Glasgow bread factories to 100 loaves to the sack.

Leavened bread.

In many parts of Europe bread is still made from leaven, which, properly speaking, consists of a portion of dough held over from the previous baking. This substance, known to French bakers as _levain_, is called in Germany _Sauerteig_ (_anglice_ "sour dough"). The lump of old dough, placed aside in a uniform temperature for some eight hours, swells and acquires an alcoholic odour, becoming the _levain de chef_ of the French bakers. It is then worked up with flour and water to a firm paste double its original volume, when it becomes the _levain de premiere_. Six hours later, by the addition of more flour and water its amount is again doubled, though its consistency is made rather softer, and it becomes the _levain de seconde_. Finally, by another addition of flour and water, the amount is again doubled, and the _levain de tous points_ is obtained. This mass is divided into two parts; one is baked yielding rather dark sour bread, while the other is mixed with more flour and water. This second portion is in turn halved, part is baked, and part again mixed with more flour, this last batch yielding the best and whitest bread. In North Germany leaven is generally used for making rye bread, and loaves baked from a mixture of wheat and rye flour. In the bakery of the Krupp works at Essen, each batch of the so-called Paderborn bread is prepared entirely with leaven from 270 kilos of rye flour (patent quality), 100 of wheat flour (seconds), 2 of buckwheat meal, 6 of salt, 5 of leaven, and one litre of oil. In Vienna leaven is never used for making the rolls and small goods for which that city is famous. Viennese bakers use either brewers' yeast or a ferment, prepared by themselves, of which the basis is an infusion of hops. Brewers' yeast is added to the ferment, which takes the form of a very slack dough. With 100 kilos (220.46 lb.) of flour about 17 litres or nearly 2 gallons of ferment are used.

Aerated bread.

In the original Dauglish process for the manufacture of aerated bread, which was brought into operation in Great Britain in 1859, carbonic acid gas was evolved in a generating vessel by the action of sulphuric acid on chalk, and after purification was forced at high pressure into water, which was then used for doughing the flour. In this process the flour that had to be made into bread was submitted to the action of the super-aerated water by direct transference. It was found, however, in practice that much difficulty occurred in making the gas admix readily with the flour and water, great pressure being required, and to lessen the difficulties a new process, called the "wine whey," was introduced. To carry this out, a vat placed on the upper storey of the factory is charged with a portion of malt and flour, which is mashed and allowed to ferment until a weak and slightly acid thin wine is produced; this after passing through the coolers is stored until it is transformed into a vinous whey. This whey is then introduced into a strong cylinder partly filled with water, and is aerated by letting in the gas (now stored in a highly compressed form in bottles), the pressure required being only a quarter of that necessary with the original method. The flour having been placed in the mixers, which are of globular form containing revolving arms, the aerated fluid is admitted, and in a short period the flour and fluid are completely incorporated. By means of an ingenious appliance termed a dough cock, the exact amount of dough for a single loaf of bread is forced out under the pressure of the gas, and by reversing the lever the dough, which expands as it falls into a baking tin, is cut off. Two sacks of flour can be converted with ease into 400 2-lb. loaves in forty minutes, whereas the ordinary baker's process would require about ten hours. At first a difficulty was encountered in the fact that the dough became discoloured by the action of the "wine whey" on the iron, but it was overcome by Killingworth Hedges, who discovered a non-poisonous vitreous enamel for coating the interior of the mixers, &c. It has been claimed for the Dauglish process that it saves the baker risks attendant on the production of carbon dioxide by the ordinary process of fermentation, in that he is no longer liable to have his dough spoilt by variations of temperature and other incalculable factors, the results being certain and uniform. A further claim is the saving of the proportion of starch consumed by conversion into glucose during the process of fermentation. The original objection, that, by the absence of fermentation, those subtle changes which help to produce flavour are lost, is annulled by the use of the wine whey process. The Dauglish process is well suited for producing small goods, such as cakes and scones, where flavour can be artificially imparted by means of currants, flavouring essences, &c. An undoubted advantage of the aerating process of bread-making is adaptability for utilizing flour with unstable gluten, which can thus be made into an excellent quality of bread. For wholemeal bread, too, there is probably no more suitable process than the Dauglish. The strong diastasic action of the cerealin, inevitable in fermentation, is entirely avoided. The Aerated Bread Company have about a hundred depots in London, which are supplied from a central factory.

Apostolov process.

The essence of the bread-making process recently invented by Serge Apostolov is the combination of a flour mill and bakery. The wheat, after a preliminary cleaning, is ground into flour by a mill composed of metal disks dressed, that is furrowed, very much like the surfaces of a pair of mill-stones. The disks are not set to grind very close, because it is desired, by minimizing friction, to keep the meal cool. From the middlings obtained by this milling process about 10% of bran is separated, and the remainder of the middlings is treated by a peculiar process, akin to mashing, termed "lixiviation." The middlings are saturated with tepid water containing a small proportion of yeast, which causes a certain amount of fermentation. It is claimed that by this process a solution is obtained of the floury constituents of the middlings. From the vats the solution is poured on an inclined sieve which has a gentle reciprocating motion. The floury particles pass through the meshes, while the bran tails over the sieve; the proportion of the wheat berry thus rejected is given as about 2-1/2%. On the other hand, the milky-looking solution, called "lactus," is caught in a special vessel, and delivered by a shoot into a trough, which may be either a mechanical kneader of an ordinary trough. This lactus takes the place of the ordinary sponge. The flour is added in the proportion necessary to make the required batch and the whole mass is doughed, either by hand or power. The resultant dough is moulded in the ordinary way into loaves, which are baked in due course. The advantages claimed for the process are that it permits of the utilization in bread-making of about 87-1/2% of the wheat berry, that the resultant bread is fairly white in colour and is agreeable in flavour, and that it is extremely simple and provides a ready and cheap means of flour-making.

_Machine Bakeries._--Bread-baking, though one of the most important of human industries, was long carried out in a most primitive manner, and machinery is still practically unknown in the bulk of British bakehouses. The reasons for this apparently anomalous condition of things are not very far to seek. Bread, unlike biscuits, is a food quite unfitted for long storage, and must be consumed within a comparatively short time of being drawn from the oven. Hence the bread-baker's output is necessarily limited to a greater or lesser degree. This will be the more apparent when it is considered that the cost of distributing bread is high relatively to the profits to be realized. A baker's bread trade is therefore usually limited to local requirements, and trading on a small scale he has less inducement to lay out capital on the installation of machinery than other classes of manufacturers. But there are now many machine bakeries (known in Scotland as bread factories), both in London and in other parts of Great Britain, where the manufacture of bread is carried out more or less on a large scale. The evolution of the machine bakery has been slow, and the mechanical operations of the bakehouse were long limited to the mixing of the sponge and the kneading of the dough, but now the work of the bakery engineer extends over almost every operation of bread-making.

A bread-baking plant should be installed in a building of at least two storeys. The ground floor may be used for the shop, with possibly a bread-cooling and delivery room at the rear. The flour may be hoisted to an attic at the top of the building, or to the top floor; in any case there must be sufficient floor space to accommodate the flour sacks and bags. Underneath the floor of the flour store should be installed a flour sifter, a simple apparatus consisting essentially of a hopper through which the flour enters a cylinder with a spiral brush, by which it is thoroughly agitated previously to passing through one or more sieves placed under the brush. A sack of flour may be passed through this sifter in a couple of minutes, the operation freeing the flour from lumps and pieces of string or other foreign substances which may have found their way into the sack. The sifter may also be combined with a blender or mixer, so that the baker may by its means thoroughly blend different flours in any desired proportion. The operation of blending is usually effected by a revolving blade of suitable design or by a worm conveyor placed underneath the sieve or sleeve. From the sifter and blender the flour descends by a sleeve into the dough kneading machine on the floor below. But in cases where it is desired merely to sift and blend flour ready for future use, it may be received in a worm and elevated again to the storage floor by an ordinary belt and bucket elevator. The water required for doughing purposes is contained in an iron tank, fixed to the wall in convenient proximity to the dough kneader. This tank, known as a water attemperating and measuring tank, is provided with a gauge and thermometer, and from it the exact quantity of water needed for doughing can be rapidly drawn off at the desired temperature. The cold water supply may be let into the tank at the top, and the hot water supply at the bottom, the idea being that each supply shall permeate the whole mass by gravity, the hot water ascending and the cold descending. The chief types of dough kneader will be described subsequently, but here it should be noted that not only have machines been devised for cutting out the exact sizes of dough required for small goods, such as buns and tartlets, but that the operations of weighing and dividing dough for quartern and half-quartern loaves can also be neatly and economically effected by machinery. Further, at least two machines have been built which successfully mould loaves (of simple shape), and the problem of moulding household bread by machinery has certainly been solved, but whether delicate twists and other fancy shapes could be equally well moulded mechanically is less certain.

The machine bakery, however complete, is not likely ever to be quite automatic and continuous like a modern flour mill, where the plant is connected throughout and virtually forms one machine (see FLOUR AND FLOUR MANUFACTURE), and though the engineer has at least managed to effect every operation of the bakehouse by mechanical means, it is not yet possible to shoot a sack of flour into the hopper of the sifter on the top floor, and to turn it into bread, without any human intervention whatever, though as things are, the moulded dough can be put into the oven without undergoing actual contact with human hands. In practice, some of the machines mentioned above are often dispensed with, even in so-called machine bakeries. The flour sifter and blender is indeed found in many bakeries where mechanical kneaders are unknown, while not in all machine bakeries would be found dough weighers and dividers, still less moulding machines. The economical side of the argument on behalf of machinery is presented in the familiar shape that a properly equipped machine bakery can turn out better work at a lower cost (by dispensing with labour), or at any rate can carry on a bigger trade with the same staff. There is plausibility in this argument, but it must be admitted that innumerable bakeries of capacities varying from 10 to 20 sacks per week are carried on more or less successfully without machinery of any kind, beyond perhaps a sifter or blender. Moreover, some of these bakehouses produce bread which can hardly be improved on.

One advantage claimed for flour sifters, besides removing the impurities, is that by thoroughly aerating flour they cause it to become more "lively," in which condition it kneads more readily. It is also quite possible that the air which is thus incorporated with the dough has a stimulating effect on the yeast, causing a more energetic fermentation. A strong argument in favour of dough kneaders is their hygienic aspect. It is agreed that the operation of dough stirring by hand, since it involves severe labour conducted in a heated atmosphere, must be liable to cause contamination of the dough through emanations from the bodies of the operatives. In well-managed bakeries the utmost personal cleanliness on the part of the staff is exacted, but the unpleasant contingency alluded to is certainly possible. It is also contended that the use of machinery for dough kneading and batter whisking will ensure better work, in the sense that the mass under treatment will be more thoroughly worked by mechanically driven arms of iron or steel than by human limbs, liable to weariness and fatigue. The better worked the dough, the greater its power of expansion, and consequently the greater its bread-making value.

Dough kneaders.

The most widely known machine used in connexion with bread-baking, next to the sifter, is the dough kneadcr. The dough kneader is no new invention. As far back as 1760, a kind of dough kneader was constructed in France by one Salignac. It is described as consisting of a trough, inside which the dough was agitated by arms shaped somewhat like harrows. This machine is said to have been tested before a committee of the Academy of Sciences, who reported that in their presence dough had been prepared in fourteen to fifteen minutes. The bread baked from this dough is said to have been most satisfactory, but for some reason the machine never came into general use. For one thing, the power problem would have been almost insuperable to a baker in the France of those days. In general design this kneader approximated to the machines which have since done good work in bakeries all the world over. Salignac was quickly followed by another inventor, Cousin, also a Frenchman, who brought out in 1761, or thereabouts, a dough-kneading machine, which, however, had no better success than its predecessor. The first kneading machine which appears to have been in actual use in a bakery was constructed by a Paris baker of the name of Lembert, after whom it was called the Lembertine. Lembert is said to have been experimenting with this apparatus as early as 1796. Be that as it may, it was not brought out till 1810, when a prize of 1500 francs (L60) was offered by the Societe d'Encouragement pour l'Industrie Nationale. This reward was won by Lembert, and his machine thereupon came into a certain amount of use in France. It is remarkable that France long remained the only country in which dough kneaders were employed, but even there their use was limited.

The Fontaine, another French kneader, called after its inventor, was first made in 1835. It had a certain success, but has long passed out of use. It appears to have been a copy to a great extent of the Lembertine. The objection against both these machines was that their blades, while exercising a mixing action, were deficient in kneading effect. Probably the first machine which achieved the task of efficiently replacing the work of human arms in sponge breaking and dough kneading was the Boland kneader. This was also a French machine, and dates back to about the middle of the 19th century. It is believed to have been first used in the Scipion bakery in Paris. It consists essentially of a trough, inside which revolve a pair of blades so arranged as to work somewhat like alternate screws: it is claimed for these blades that their action has the effect of tossing the dough backwards and forwards when it is slack, and of drawing it out when it happens to be stiff. It is further claimed that the blades are so shaped that their revolution has the effect of moving the dough from right to left and left to right in the trough. The machine is geared to give two speeds, the faster being suitable for sponge setting, while the slow and most powerful speed is intended for the doughing. The Boland machine has been widely adopted in other countries than France, and was certainly one of the first dough kneaders to be used in the United Kingdom. It was installed in the great Boland bakery in Dublin, where it proved a great success. The proprietor of this bakery, with which was also connected a flour mill, is said to have had his attention first drawn to this machine by the fact that its inventor was his namesake, though no relative.

The Deliry-Desboves dough kneader, also of French origin, and in general use in France, consists essentially of a cast iron trough, shaped somewhat like a basin, and turning on a vertical axis. The kneading arms inside the trough are shaped after the pattern of a lyre, and have the effect of first working up and then dividing the dough right through the kneading process. Two helical blades, which also form part of the mechanism, serve to draw out and aerate the dough, as effectively, it is claimed, as can be done by the most skilled operative. The force of the kneading operations can be regulated without stopping the machine. A thoroughly kneaded dough can, it is said, be made in this machine in twelve to fifteen minutes.

In Great Britain the type of machine that used to be most in favour was the trough within which the kneading arms worked on horizontal axis. The trough was either open or provided with a lid. The kneading blades were variously shaped, but generally were more or less straight, and were designed to both mix and aerate the dough. In some cases the kneading blades were worked on a single axis, in others two different sets of arms worked on two axes running parallel to one another. Generally the kneader was geared to two speeds, the fast motion being most suitable for sponge setting, and the earlier stages of dough-making, while the slower motion was intended to draw out and thoroughly aerate the dough. To discharge the dough, the trough was tilted by means of a worm and worm wheel, the latter being secured to the trough. Several variations of this type of kneader are still in use. The machine known as the "Universal" kneader consists of a trough set horizontally, within which rotate on horizontal axes a pair of blades lying in the same plane. These blades are curved and are geared together by means of differential spur wheels, with the object of running the two spindles at unequal speeds. The bottom of the trough is divided into two semi-cylindrical cavities, separated by a ridge. Each blade plunges into its own cavity, and the action of these arms tends, while pressing the dough against the sides and base of the trough, to bring it quickly back towards the centre. The differential speed has the advantage of effecting a more thorough mixing of the dough, as it brings together pieces of dough which have not yet been mingled, the blades pushing the dough from one cavity to the other. To hasten the kneading process it is desirable occasionally to reverse the motion by a turn of a hand wheel on the same shaft as the two pulleys. This wheel governs all the motions of the blades. The trough, which is set low, is tilted over, when the dough is ready, by an endless chain operated by a hand winch. The effort required for this operation is very slight, as the trough is balanced by two weights. The action of tilting does not interfere with the blades, which continue rotating until stopped by the hand wheel. The Universal kneader was designed to imitate as closely as possible the action of a pair of skilled human arms and hands, but of course works at a much greater speed.

Another form of dough mixer which is extensively used consists simply of a drum made of sheet steel supported by two A-shaped standards at a sufficient height from the floor to allow a trough to be run underneath to receive the dough when ready for the moulding board. In this drum are two tight-fitting doors. The interior is fitted with no blades or knives, but presents a free cylindrical space, with the sole exception that, set not very far from the circumference, there are several fixed rods passing from one side of the drum to the other. These act as mixers of the dough. The door is opened and the flour and water poured in, whereupon the door is again fastened and the drum is made to rotate. As the rotation proceeds, the dough begins to form, and being lifted up by the revolving drum falls by its own weight. In this process, which is repeated again and again, the dough is caught by and tumbled over by the rods, which act as mixers and take the place of the revolving arms of the trough kneader. The kneading action of the rotating arms is absent, but the steady tumbling over these rods appears to have a thorough mixing effect, and the dough is discharged from the drum in good condition for moulding. The time occupied for making a dough by this apparatus varies from four to six minutes. The advantages claimed for this machine are that it consumes comparatively little power, and that there is not so much danger of "felling" or over-kneading dough as in some of the machines with revolving blades. The compactness of this rotating drum mixer, often known as the Rotary mixer, recommends it on shipboard and in other places where space is limited.

Dough dividers and moulders.

In the earlier days of machine bakeries the accurate dividing of dough, and still more the moulding of loaves by mechanical means, was considered an unattainable ideal. The first step in this direction was made by the Lewis-Pointon dough divider and weigher, which was intended for dividing and weighing out dough ready for the moulding table. In an ordinary way a baker who wishes to bake a batch of half-quartern or 2-lb. loaves scales off 2 lb. 2 oz. of dough for each loaf. The 2 oz. are a sort of insurance against light weight. The evaporation of moisture from dough in the oven is bound to reduce to some extent the weight of the baked loaf, but with normally baked bread, 2 lb. 2 oz. in the case of half-quarterns, and 4 lb. 4 oz. in the case of quartern loaves, is sufficient to ensure full weight. As the accurate scaling of dough requires some pains and trouble, it would be surprising if hand scaling were always accurate. The Lewis-Pointon machine can, it is claimed, be set to turn out lumps of dough of the exact weight required either for 1-lb., 2-lb., or 4-lb. loaves. The apparatus does not measure the dough by weight but by volume by an ingenious piston arrangement. The machine when first put on the market was a little complicated, but its mechanism has since been simplified. It has been successfully worked on doughs of all descriptions, ranging from the tightest to those made with 20 gallons of water to the sack. The same firm which brought out this dough divider has also produced a dough-moulding machine, which has a wide range of work. In this apparatus the dough is introduced between a trough and a revolving table at a point on the outer periphery of the latter. The order of things observed in hand moulding is here reversed, as the trough, unlike the hand, is fixed, while the table revolves around a vertical axis. This table is sharply coned, and can be made to work the dough as much or as little as may be required. In working dough for tin or Coburg loaves only one trough is used, but for cottage loaves two parallel troughs are fitted, one taking the lower and the other the upper half of the loaf. In the latter case, a single piece of dough is fed into the machine and passed through an automatic splitter, the two portions being automatically carried into the troughs and simultaneously delivered at the other side of the machine ready to be put together. With doughs which require "handing-up," two machines may be used for moulding, the dough being automatically fed from the divider to the handing-up machine, and after a short proof passed through the finisher. But the moulding machine may also be used as a "hander-up."

Another ingenious dough moulder, known as the Baker-Callow, works on a rather different principle. Here the pieces of dough coming from the divider are fed into the moulder by a canvas band, and are worked between a large cylindrical roller and a vertically running canvas and leather belt. To prevent pieces from dropping through, and to assist the moulding process, a smaller roller is placed under and between the cylindrical roller and canvas belt. A wooden puncher also assists in working the loaves, which are finished by being rolled between a band and a special shaped wooden moulding. This machine delivers the dough in spherical shaped pieces. If intended for cottage bread they are at once placed on the dough table at the side, and one piece is put on the top of the other ready for the oven. It is claimed the machine will deal equally well with large and small pieces at the same time, so that the tops and bottoms can be made together. Should the machine be intended for tinned bread, a special attachment is used, into which the spherical pieces are delivered from the machine and rolled into cylindrical shapes, ready to be dropped into the pan. A capacity of sixty loaves per minute is claimed for this moulder.

_Ovens._--The ordinary baker's oven is a vaulted chamber, about 10 ft. in length, by 8 ft. in width and 30 in. in height; it is constructed of brick or stone, and has a small door in front through which the oven is charged (by means of a "peel" or long wooden shovel) and the batch withdrawn. The furnace and fire-grate are often placed at the side of the oven door, but with the oldest ovens, which were heated by wood, there generally was only one door for the fuel and for the bread. Whether the furnace is heated by coal, as is usual in England, or by coke, as is often the case in Scotland, the oven mouth remains in the bakehouse itself; hence the stoking and scuffling must be carried out within the bakehouse. This is in many ways objectionable. For one thing, the fuel must almost of necessity be kept in the bakehouse itself, and it is obvious that the products of combustion are liable to get into the oven. In the old type of oven a flue was frequently placed on the other side of the furnace door, both furnace and flue being on the front of the oven. After firing the furnace, the oven is allowed to "lie down" for a certain time, and secure an even distribution of heat. The furnace and flue are then shut, and the oven charged, the batch being baked by the heat stored within the oven chamber. With ovens of this type, each batch of bread requires a separate firing. This kind of oven has undergone several improvements of detail, but the principle of internal heating, that is, of firing the furnace inside the bakehouse, has remained unchanged.

A new era in bakers' ovens began about the middle of the 19th century with the introduction of the "Perkins" oven, a system which, with slight modifications, has persisted till to-day. In this oven the baking chamber is heated by steam pipes. The latter consist of tubes of iron or mild steel which are partly filled with water and are hermetically sealed by welded ends. The pipes are arranged in two parallel rows, the one at the crown and the other at the sole of the oven. The pipes project at one end into the furnace, which is set at the back of the oven and is usually outside the bakehouse. This is termed an externally heated oven. As the ends of the pipes get red hot the water is converted into superheated steam, which being under high pressure soon raises the chamber to baking heat, say 450 deg. to 500 deg. F. In an oven of this description the heat can be continuously maintained, and batch after batch can be baked without refiring. The only drawback is that a flash heat cannot be raised. In another type of externally fired oven the heat is conveyed by flues placed at the bottom and top of the oven, which discharge into a chimney. Excellent results have been attained with ovens of this kind. The distribution of the heat can be well regulated; for instance, it is quite possible to build ovens to be cooler at the back than front, an arrangement which is useful when the bread is withdrawn by means of a hand peel. As the baker has to withdraw each loaf one at a time, it is clear that the withdrawal of the batch through the oven door must take time, probably not less than half-an-hour. Hence the bread drawn from near the oven's mouth may be underbaked as compared with that at the back of the chamber. The latter, on the other hand, may be overbaked and deficient in weight.

By means of a draw-plate, however, an oven can be expeditiously charged. This appliance consists of a sliding plate or tray, mounted on wheels running on rails, which is drawn out of the oven loaded with bread, and then returned. The plate itself is often made of iron, but one well-known oven is fitted with a withdrawable iron frame, in which are laid, edge to edge, tiles of a special make, which are cemented in place, and form a continuous baking surface. This seems an excellent arrangement, as the baker has all the advantages of a brick oven, that is to say, his bread is baked both on top and bottom by heat evolved from tiled surfaces, and the undoubted drawbacks incidental to baking bread on an iron surface are avoided. A draw-plate fitted to an oven capable of baking a batch made from a sack (280 lb) of flour can be run out, charged and run in again, in about two minutes. The draw-plate has the incidental advantage, by expediting the loading and discharge of the oven, of ensuring a more uniform baking of the batch, and therefore of minimizing the loss of weight. Some bakers have gone so far as to estimate the saving in this respect from the use of a draw-plate at half an ounce per 2-lb. loaf. With decker ovens a double draw-plate may be used, the feet of the pedestal supporting the upper draw-plate running on a rail outside, but parallel to the rail on which the lower draw-plate runs. This arrangement, however, is more applicable to small than large ovens. Or the lower oven may be fitted with a draw-plate while the upper oven is served with a peel. The draw-plate being at a lower level than the sole of an ordinary oven, the upper deck may be worked with a peel without much difficulty.

The _decker_ oven is, as its name implies, an oven built over another oven: in fact, sometimes a tier of three ovens is employed, placed one above the other. The object is to secure a double or treble baking surface without a very much larger outlay on fuel than would be necessary for one oven. It is easy to understand that a double or three decker oven might be constructed under conditions where it would be impossible to place two or three ordinary ovens side by side. Practical bakers are somewhat divided as to the actual economy of the decker system; possibly it is a question of management. The upper oven is heated by the gases which have passed under the oven beneath. A double-decker oven on the flue principle could be heated by three flues, one beneath the lower oven, another passing between the crown of the lower and the sole of the top oven, and the third over the crown of the upper oven. If a third oven were built over the second, then a fourth flue would pass over the crown of the third and top oven. In such an arrangement of flues the distribution of heat to the ovens would be fairly equal, but no doubt the lower oven would be the hottest. In addition to the flues, which should be straight and accessible for cleaning, there ought also to be auxiliary flues by which heat may be allowed to pass dampers to the upper portions of the series of ovens. In this way the heat of the upper oven or ovens can be regulated independently to a great extent of the bottom oven. The power of regulating the heat of the ovens is very necessary, because a baker doing what is called a mixed trade, that is to say, producing cakes and pastry in addition to bread, must work his ovens at varying temperatures. Cakes cannot be baked at the heat (about 450 deg. F.) required by a batch of household bread. The richest fancy goods, such as wedding and Christmas cakes, require the coolest ovens. Flue ovens are best worked with coke, as coal is apt to choke the flues; retort coke is recommended in place of oven coke. An oven should be fitted with some kind of thermal register, and both high-temperature thermometers and pyrometers are used for this purpose. (G. F. Z.)

BREADALBANE, JOHN CAMPBELL, 1ST EARL OF (c. 1636-1717), son of Sir John Campbell of Glenorchy, Bart., and of the Lady Mary Graham, daughter of William, earl of Airth and Menteith, was born about 1636. He took part in the abortive royalist rising under Glencairn in 1654, and was one of those who urged Monk to declare a free parliament in England to facilitate the restoration. He sat in the Scottish parliament as member for Argyllshire from 1669 to 1674. As principal creditor he obtained in October 1672, from George, 6th earl of Caithness, a conveyance of his dignities, lands and heritable jurisdictions; and after the latter's death he was created on the 28th of June 1677 earl of Caithness and viscount of Breadalbane. In 1678 he married the widowed countess of Caithness, an economical step which saved him the alimentary provision of 12,000 merks a year he had covenanted to pay. In 1680 he invaded Caithness with a band of 700 men and defeated and dispossessed the earl's heir male. The latter, however, was subsequently confirmed in his lands and titles, and Campbell on the 13th of August 1681 obtained a new patent with the precedency of the former one, creating him earl of Breadalbane and Holland, viscount of Tay and Paintland, Lord Glenorchy, Benederaloch, Ormelie and Weick in the peerage of Scotland, with special power to nominate his successor from among the sons of his first wife. In 1685 he was a member of the Scottish privy council. Though nominally a Presbyterian he had assisted the intolerant and despotic government of Lauderdale in 1678 with 1700 men. He is described as having "neither honour nor religion but where they are mixed with interest," as of "fair complexion, of the gravity of the Spaniard, cunning as a Fox, wise as a Serpent and supple as an Eel."[1] He was reputed the best headpiece in Scotland.[2] His influence, owing to his position and abilities, was greater than that of any man in Scotland after Argyll, and it was of high moment to King William to gain him and obtain his services in conciliating the Highlanders. Breadalbane at first carried on communications with Dundee and was implicated in the royalist intrigue called the "Montgomery plot," but after the battle of Killiecrankie in July 1689 he made overtures to the government, subsequently took the oath of allegiance, and was entrusted with a large sum of money by the government to secure the submission of the clans. On the 30th of June 1691 he met the Jacobite chiefs and concluded with them secret articles by which they undertook to refrain from acts of hostility till October, gaining their consent by threats and promises rather than by the distribution of the money entrusted to him, the greater part of which, it was believed, he retained himself. When asked to give an account of the expenditure he replied: "The money is spent, the Highlands are quiet, and this is the only way of accounting between friends."[3]

On the 27th of August a proclamation was issued offering indemnity to all those who should submit and take the oath of allegiance before the 1st of January 1692, and threatening all those who should refuse with a military execution and the penalties of treason. All the chiefs took the oath except MacIan, the chief of the MacDonalds of Glencoe, who postponed his submission till the 31st of December, and was then prevented from taking the oath till the 6th of January 1692 through the absence of a magistrate at Fort William, whither he had repaired for the purpose. This irregularity gave Breadalbane an immediate opportunity of destroying the clan of thieves which had for generations lived by plundering his lands and those of his neighbours. Accordingly, together with Argyll and Sir John Dalrymple (afterwards Lord Stair), Breadalbane organized the atrocious crime known as the "Massacre of Glencoe," when the unfortunate MacDonalds, deceived by assurances of friendship, and at the moment when they were lavishing their hospitality upon their murderers, were butchered in cold blood on the 13th of February 1692. Breadalbane's astuteness, however, prevented the disclosure of any evidence against him in the inquiry afterwards instituted in 1695, beyond the deposition of a person who professed to have been sent on Breadalbane's behalf to obtain a declaration of his innocence from MacIan's sons, who had escaped. The discovery of his former negotiations with the Jacobite chiefs caused his imprisonment in Edinburgh Castle in September, but he was released when it was known that he had been acting with William's knowledge.

Breadalbane did not vote for the Union in 1707, but was chosen a representative peer in the parliament of Great Britain of 1713-1715. His co-operation with the English government in securing the temporary submission of the Highlands was inspired by no real loyalty or allegiance, and he encouraged the attempted French descent in 1708, refusing, however, to commit himself to paper. On the occasion of the Jacobite rising in 1715 he excused himself on the 19th of September from obeying the summons to appear at Edinburgh on the ground of his age and infirmities; but nevertheless the next day visited Mar's camp at Logierait and afterwards the camp at Perth, his real business being, according to the Master of Sinclair, "to trick others, not to be trickt," and to obtain a share of the French subsidies. He had taken money for the whole 1200 men he had promised and only sent 300. His 300 men were withdrawn after the battle of Sheriffmuir, and his death, which took place on the 19th of March 1717, rendered unnecessary any inquiry into his conduct. He married (1) Mary, daughter of Henry Rich, 1st earl of Holland, by whom he had two sons, Duncan, styled Lord Ormelie, who was passed over in the succession, and John, and earl of Breadalbane; (2) Mary, daughter of Archibald, marquis of Argyll, and widow of George, 6th earl of Caithness, by whom he had one son, Colin. By Mrs Mildred Littler, who has sometimes but probably in error been named as his third wife, he had a daughter, Mary.

JOHN CAMPBELL, 2nd earl of Breadalbane (1662-1752), an eccentric nobleman, who was known as "Old Rag," was succeeded by his only son, John (c. 1696-1782). This earl was a diplomatist, being British ambassador to Denmark and to Russia, and a politician, being for a long time a member of the House of Commons and a supporter of Sir Robert Walpole, in addition to holding several official positions. All his sons having predeceased their father, the title passed on his death, on the 26th of January 1782, to a cousin, John (1762-1834), who became 4th earl and was created a British peer as marquess of Breadalbane in 1831. His son John, the 2nd marquess (1796-1862), a prominent leader of the Free Church during the ecclesiastical disputes in Scotland, died without sons in November 1862. The marquessate now became extinct, but the Scottish earldom passed to a cousin John Alexander (1824-1871), whose son and successor, Gavin (b. 1851), was created marquess of Breadalbane in 1885.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] _Memoirs_ of John Macky (Roxburghe Club, 1895), 121.

[2] _Corr. of Col. N. Hooke_ (Roxburghe, Club, 1870), i. 49.

[3] Note by Sir W. Scott in Sinclair's _Mem. of Insurrection in Scotland_ (Abbotsford Club, 1858), 185.

BREADALBANE, a large district of Perthshire, Scotland, bordered N. by Atholl, E. by Strathtay, S. by Strathearn and W. by the districts of Argyll and Lorne, and occupying some 1020 sq. m. Most of the surface is mountainous, Ben Lawers (3984 ft.), Ben More (3843), and Ben Lui (3708), being the principal hills. Loch Tay is the chief lake, and among the rivers are the Orchy, Dochart, Lochay, Lyon, Almond and the Tay (during the early part of its course). Population mostly centres in Aberfeldy, Fortingal, Kenmore and Killin. The soil is not cultivable excepting in some of the glens and straths. Game is plentiful, the lakes and rivers afford good sport, and the deer forests and shootings are valuable. The district has given the titles of earl and marquess to the Campbells of Glenorchy.

BREAD-FRUIT. This most important food staple of the tropical islands in the Pacific Ocean is the fruit of _Artocarpus incisa_ (nat. ord. Moraceae). The tree attains a moderate height, has very large, acutely lobed, glossy leaves, the male flowers in spikes, and the female flowers in a dense head, which by consolidation of their fleshy carpels and receptacles form the fruit. The fruit is globular in shape, about the size of a melon, with a tuberculated or (in some varieties) nearly smooth surface. Many varieties of the tree are cultivated, the fruits of some ripening numerous seeds, which are eaten as chestnuts; but in the best kinds the seeds are aborted, and it is only these that are highly prized as vegetables. The tree is a native of the South Sea Islands, where its fruit occupies the important position that is held by cereals in temperate latitudes. The fruit, which on distinct varieties ripens at different periods, affording a nearly constant supply throughout the year, is gathered for use just before it ripens, when it is found to be gorged with starchy matter, to which its esculent value is due. It may be cooked and prepared for use in a great variety of ways, the common practice in the South Sea Islands being to bake it entire in hot embers, and scoop out the interior, which when properly cooked should have a soft smooth consistence, fibrous only towards the heart, with a taste which has been compared to that of boiled potatoes and sweet milk. Of this fruit A.R. Wallace, in his _Malay Archipelago_, says: "With meat and gravy it is a vegetable superior to anything I know either in temperate or tropical countries. With sugar, milk, butter or treacle it is a delicious pudding, having a very slight and delicate but characteristic flavour, which, like that of good bread and potatoes, one never gets tired of." In the Pacific Islands the fruit is preserved for use by storing in pits, where the fruits ferment and resolve themselves into a mass similar in consistency to new cheese, in which state they emit an offensive odour; but after baking under hot stones they yield a pleasant and nutritious food. Another and more common method of preserving the fruit for use consists in cutting it into thin slices, which are dried in the sun. From such dried slices a flour is prepared which is useful for the preparation of puddings, bread and biscuits, or the slices are baked and eaten without grinding. The tree yields other products of economic value, such as native cloth from the fibrous inner bark of young trees; the wood is used for canoes and articles of furniture; and a kind of glue and caulking material are obtained from the viscid milky juice which exudes from incisions made in the stem.

The bread-fruit is found throughout the tropical regions of both hemispheres, and its first introduction into the West Indies is connected with the famous mutiny of the "Bounty," and the remarkable history of a small company of the mutineers at Pitcairn Island. Attention was directed to the fruit in 1688 by Captain Dampier, and later by Captain Cook, who recommended its transplantation to the West Indian colonies. In 1787 the "Bounty" was fitted out under command of Lieutenant William Bligh (q.v.) to proceed to Tahiti to carry plants thence to the West Indian Islands; and it was after the cargo had been secured and the vessel was on her way that the mutiny broke out, and Lieutenant Bligh and some of his crew were turned adrift in a small boat in the open sea. The mutineers returned with the vessel to Tahiti, whence a number of them, with a few native men and women, sailed to the desolate and lone islet of Pitcairn. Lieutenant Bligh ultimately reached England, and was again commissioned to undertake the work of transplanting the plants, which in the year 1792-1793 he successfully accomplished.

A somewhat similar but inferior fruit is produced by an allied species, the Jack or Jak, _Artocarpus integrifolia_, growing in India, Ceylon and the Eastern Archipelago. The large fruit is from 12 to 18 in. long by 6 to 8 in. in diameter, and is much eaten by the natives in India. This tree is chiefly valuable on account of its timber, which has a grain very similar to mahogany, and although at first light-coloured it gradually assumes much of the appearance of that wood.

BREAKING BULK, a nautical term for the taking out of a portion of the cargo of a ship, or the beginning to unload; and used in a legal sense for taking anything out of a package or parcel, or in any way destroying its entirety. It was thus important in connexion with the subject of bailment, involving as it did the curious distinction that where a bailee received possession of goods in a box or package, and then sold them as a whole, he was guilty only of a breach of trust, but if he "broke bulk" or caused a separation of the goods, and sold a part or all, he was guilty of felony. This distinction was abolished by the Larceny Act 1861, which enacted that whoever, being a bailee of any chattel, money or valuable security, should fraudulently take or convert the same to his own use, or the use of any person other than the owner, although he should not break bulk or otherwise determine the bailment, should be guilty of larceny (s. 3).

BREAKWATER. When a harbour (q.v.) is proposed to be established on an exposed coast, whether for naval or commercial purposes, to provide a protected approach to a port or river, or to serve as a refuge for vessels from storms, the necessary shelter, so far as it is not naturally furnished by a bay or projecting headlands, has to be secured by the construction of one or more "breakwaters." These breakwaters, having to prevent the waves that beat upon the coast from reaching the site which they are designed to protect, must be made sufficiently strong to withstand the shocks of the waves during the worst storms to which they are exposed. It is therefore essential, before constructing a breakwater, to investigate most carefully the force, periods and duration of the winds from the quarters to which the work will be exposed, the distance of any sheltering land from the site in the most stormy direction, the slope of the beach and the depth of the sea in the neighbourhood of the shore, and the protection, if any, afforded by outlying shoals or sandbanks. In a tidal sea, the height required for a breakwater is affected by the amount of tidal range; and the extent of breakwater exposed to breaking waves depends upon the difference in level between low and high water. The existence, also, of any drift of sand or shingle along the shore must be ascertained, and its extent; for the projection of a solid breakwater out from the shore is certain to affect this littoral drift, which, if large in amount, may necessitate important modifications in the design for the harbour.

Winds.

Observations of the force and prevalence of the winds from the different quarters at the various periods of the year, and the instruments by which they are recorded, belong to the science of meteorology; but such records are very valuable to the maritime engineer in indicating from which directions, open to the sea, the worst storms, and, consequently, the greatest waves, may be expected, and against which the most efficient shelter has to be provided. Moreover, it is necessary, for constructing or repairing a breakwater, to know the period of the year when the calmest weather may be safely anticipated, and also the stormy season during which no work should be attempted, and in preparation for which unfinished works have to be guarded by protective measures. In the parts of the world subject to periodical winds, such as the monsoons, the direction and force of the winds vary with remarkable regularity according to the seasons; and even such uncertain occurrences as hurricanes and cyclones generally visit the regions in their track at definite periods of the year, according to the locality. Even in western Europe, where the winds are extremely variable, violent gales are much more liable to beat upon the western and northern coasts in the winter months than at any other period of the year; whilst the calmest weather may be expected between May and August.

Waves.

The size of waves depends upon the force of the wind, and the distance along which it blows continuously, in approximately the same direction, over a large expanse of ocean. The greatest waves are, accordingly, encountered where the maximum distance in a certain direction from the nearest land, or, as it is termed, the "fetch," coincides with the line travelled by the strongest gales. The dimensions, indeed, of waves in the worst storms depend primarily on the extent of the sea in which they are raised; though in certain seas they are occasionally greatly increased by the exceptional velocities attained by hurricanes and typhoons, which, however, are fortunately restricted to fairly well defined and limited regions. Waves have been found to attain a maximum height of about 10 ft. in the Lake of Geneva, 17 ft. in the Mediterranean Sea, 23 ft. in the Bay of Biscay, and 40 ft. in the Atlantic Ocean; whilst waves of 50 to 60 ft. in height have been observed in the Pacific Ocean off the Cape of Good Hope, where the expanse of sea reaches a maximum, and the exposure to gales is complete. The length of large waves bears no definite relation to their height, and is apparently due, in the long waves often observed in exposed situations, to the combination of several shorter waves in their onward course, which is naturally dependent on the extent of the exposure. Thus waves about 560 ft. in length have been met with during severe gales in the Atlantic Ocean; whilst waves from 600 to 1000 ft. long are regarded as of common occurrence in the Pacific Ocean during storms.

The rate of transmission of the undulation also varies with the exposure; for the ordinary velocity of the apparent travel of waves in storms has been found to amount to about 22 m. an hour in the Atlantic Ocean, and to attain about 27 m. an hour off Cape Horn. The large waves, however, observed in mid-ocean do not reach the coast, because their progress is checked, and their height and length reduced, by encountering the shelving sea-bottom, which diminishes the depth of water on approaching the shore; and the actual waves which have to be arrested by breakwaters depend on the exposure of the site, the existence of continuous deep water close up to the shore, and the depth in which the breakwater is situated. On the other hand, the height, and, consequently, the destructive force of waves, is increased on running up a funnel-shaped bay, by the increasing concentration of the waves in the narrowing width, just as the tidal range of a moderate tidal current is much augmented by its passage up the Bay of Fundy, or up the Bristol Channel into the Severn estuary, or by filling the shallow enclosed bay of St Malo. This effect is intensified when the bay faces the direction of the strongest winds. Thus at Wick a mass of masonry weighing 1350 tons, placed at the head of the breakwater projecting half-way across the bay and facing the entrance, was moved by the waves during a violent storm; and a portion of Peterhead breakwater, weighing 3300 tons, was shifted 2 in. in 1898, indicating a wave-stroke of 2 tons per sq. ft. Southwesterly gales, blowing up the Gulf of Genoa, cause large waves to roll into the bay, reaching a height of about 21 ft. in the worst storms.

Where outlying sandbanks stretch in front of a coast, as for instance the Stroombank in front of Ostend and the adjacent shore, and the sandbanks opposite Yarmouth sheltering Yarmouth Roads, large waves cannot approach the land, for they break on the sandbanks outside. Waves, indeed, always break when, on running up a shoaling beach, they reach a depth approximately equal to their height; and the largest waves which can reach a shore protected by intervening sandbanks, are those which are low enough to pass over the banks without breaking.

The force of the wind, as transmitted by degrees to the sea, is manifested as a series of progressing undulations without any material displacement of the body of water, each undulation transmitting its accumulated force to the next in the direction the wind is blowing, till at last, on encountering an obstacle to its onward course, each wave, no longer finding any water to which to communicate its energy, deals a blow against the obstacle proportionate to its size and rate of transmission; or on reaching shoal water near the shore, the undulation is finally transformed into a breaking wave rushing up the sloping beach. till, on its energy being spent, it recoils back to the sea down the beach. A breaking wave concentrates its transmitted force on a portion of the water forming the undulation, which, consequently, strikes a more powerful blow over a limited area against any structure than the more distributed shock of a simple undulation beating against a vertical wall. Moreover, the recoil of broken waves down a sloping beach or rubble mound produces a greater scour than the simple reflection of an undulation from a vertical wall, especially where the depth is sufficient to provide a cushion of water below the undulation, protecting the toe of the wall from the wash of recoil.

_Types of Breakwaters_.--There are three distinct types of breakwaters:--(1) A simple rubble or concrete-block mound; (2) a mound for the bottom portion, surmounted on the top by a solid superstructure of masonry or concrete; and (3) an upright-wall breakwater, built up solid from the sea-bottom to the top. The second type forms a sort of combination of the first and third types; and each type presents several varieties. In a few harbours, two different types have been adopted for different situations at the same place; but generally the choice of type is determined by the materials available at the site for the construction of the breakwater, the nature of the sea-bottom and the depth into which the breakwater has to be carried.

Rubble mound.

1. _Rubble and Concrete-Block Mound Breakwaters._--A rubble mound consists merely of a mass of rubble stone, just as it is obtained from a neighbouring quarry, tipped into the sea along a predetermined line, till the mound emerges out of water. The rubble stone is deposited, either from barges, as adopted for the construction of the detached breakwater sheltering Plymouth Bay, or from wagons, having hinged opening flaps at the bottom for dropping their load, run out from the shore along staging erected in the proposed line, according to the method employed for the outer breakwater enclosing Portland Harbour, and the north-east breakwater at Colombo Harbour. The mound thus deposited is gradually consolidated under the action of the sea; and a tolerably stable form is by degrees attained by continued deposits of stone. This system of construction is very wasteful of materials, and can only be resorted to where extensive quarries close at hand are able to furnish readily and cheaply very large quantities of stone, especially where, as at Portland and Table Bay, convict labour has been advantageously utilized in quarrying. When the site is very exposed, the large waves in storms, dashing over a rubble-mound breakwater, carry the stones on the top, if unprotected, over on to the harbour slope, and in recoiling down the outer slope, draw down the stones on the face, so that the top and sea slope of the mound need replenishing with a fresh deposit of stones after severe storms.

Under the action of the breaking and recoiling waves, the mound assumes a very flat slope on the sea side, from a few feet above high-water down to several feet below low-wafer level (fig. 1). The flatness of the sea slope depends on the exposure of the site, and the limited size of the stones covering the outer portion of the mound; and its extent increases with the range of tide, as a large tidal rise exposes a greater length of slope to the action of the waves. This flattening of the sea slope greatly increases the amount of stone required for a rubble-mound breakwater, in proportion to the exposure and the range of tide; and the amount is also affected, but in a proportionately minor degree, by the depth in which the breakwater is situated. In order to avoid the injuries to which an ordinary rubble mound is subjected by waves, certain methods have been devised for protecting the top and sea slope of the mound. For instance, the upper portion of Plymouth breakwater has been covered over by granite paving set in cement, to diminish the displacement of the stones by the waves. Frequently, on the continent of Europe, rubble mounds have been formed of materials so sorted that the smallest stones are placed in the centre of the lower part of the mound, and covered over along the slopes and top by layers of larger stones, increasing in size towards the outer part of the mound, so that the largest stones obtainable are deposited on the outside, and especially on the top and sea slope of the mound. This is, no doubt, theoretically the correct method of construction of rubble mounds exposed to the sea; but it involves a considerable amount of trouble and expense.

Concrete blocks with rubble mound.

Practically the chief point of importance is to cover the outer slope and the top of the mound with the largest stones that can be procured, and where large stones are not readily obtainable concrete blocks furnish a very convenient substitute. These blocks are generally deposited as the outer covering on the top and sea slope of a rubble mound, as for example at the mound breakwaters in deep water sheltering Algiers harbour, and at the French parts of Cette and Bona on the Mediterranean; whilst they furnish the protection of the top and upper part of the sea slope of the rubble-mound extension of Marseilles breakwater down to 20 ft. below sea-level. At Alexandria, concrete blocks compose the outer half of the mound, sheltering the inner half consisting of small rubble (fig. 2); at Biarritz the mound breakwater is formed mainly of concrete blocks, with rubble stone filling the interstices and on the top; whereas at the outer end of the western breakwater at Port Said, protecting the entrance to the Suez Canal, a bottom layer of rubble is surmounted by concrete blocks. These blocks are generally deposited at random; but at Cette (fig. 3), and at the breakwater in deep water at Civita Vecchia, the concrete blocks covering the rubble have been laid in stepped, horizontal courses. This arrangement necessitates more care and better appliances in construction; but, in compensation, the blocks so placed are less exposed to disturbance and injury by the waves.

Concrete blocks possess the great advantages for breakwaters that they can be made wherever sand and shingle can be procured, and of a size only limited by the appliances which are available for handling them. In fact, in places where stone of any kind is difficult to procure at a reasonable cost, as for instance at Port Said, concrete blocks are indispensable for the construction of breakwaters. Large concrete blocks, moreover, by enabling a comparatively steep slope to be formed with them on the sea side of a mound breakwater, reduce considerably the amount of materials required, especially at exposed sites, and also for breakwaters extended into deep water, such as those of Algiers and Marseilles.

Concrete block mound.

Occasionally, in the absence of suitable rubble stone, a mound breakwater has been formed entirely with concrete blocks; and of this the main portion of the western breakwater at Port Said furnishes a notable example (fig. 4). Sometimes, in exposed situations, the mounds of the composite type of breakwaters have been constructed exclusively with concrete blocks, such, for instance, as in the curved breakwater protecting the outer harbour at Leghorn, and in the central breakwater in deep water sheltering the harbour of St Jean de Luz, and directly facing the Bay of Biscay. These large concrete blocks are deposited by cranes from staging, tipped into the sea from a sloping platform on barges, or floated out between pontoons, or slung out from floating derricks. This last method proved so expeditious for the upper blocks at Alexandria, that, in conjunction with the tipping of the lower blocks from the inclined planes on the decks of barges and the deposit of the rubble from hopper barges, provided also with side flaps for the higher portions, the detached breakwater, nearly 2 m. long, sheltering a very spacious harbour, was constructed in two years (1870-1872). Sometimes, when a mound breakwater has been raised out of water, advantage is taken of a calm period of the year and a low tide to form large blocks of concrete within timber framing on the top of the mound, so as to provide a very efficient protection.

The large masses composing mound breakwaters give them great stability against the attacks of the sea; and, moreover, the wide base of the mounds enables them to be deposited on a sandy or silty sea-bottom, without any fear of settlement or undermining. A mound breakwater, however, has the disadvantages of requiring a large amount of material, and of occupying a wide space on the bed of the sea, more especially where the mound consists of rubble stone and is in deep water, so that the system, though simple, is costly, and is unsuited for harbours where the available space to be sheltered is limited. Nevertheless, a mound breakwater can be rapidly constructed by the employment of a large number of barges; and by the adoption of large concrete blocks, the quantity of materials and the space occupied by the mound can be considerably reduced. This form of breakwater, with its long outer slope exposed to breaking waves, particularly where the tidal range is considerable, is, indeed, more subject to frequent small injuries than the other types, but they are readily repaired; and a mound is not generally liable to the serious breaches which occasionally are formed in solid superstructures and upright walls in exceptional storms.

2. _Breakwaters formed of a Mound surmounted by a Superstructure._--The second type of breakwater consists of a mound, composed of rubble or concrete blocks, or generally a combination of the two, carried up from the sea-bottom, on the top of which some form of solid superstructure is erected. This superstructure reduces considerably the amount of materials required (which, on account of the slopes of the mound, increases rapidly with the height) in proportion to the depth at which the superstructure is founded; and the solid capping on the mound serves also to protect the top of the mound from the action of the waves. In the case, however, of a mound breakwater, portions of the highest waves generally pass over the top of the mound, and also to some extent expend their force in passing through the interstices between the blocks; whereas a superstructure presents a solid face to the impact of the waves. A superstructure, accordingly, must be very strongly built in proportion to the exposure, and also to the size of the waves liable to reach it, which depends upon the height and flatness of the slope of the mound just in front of it on the sea side. Special care, moreover, has to be taken to prevent the superstructure from being undermined; for the waves in storms, dashing up against this nearly vertical, solid obstacle, tend in their recoil down the face to scour out the materials of the mound at the outer toe of the superstructure, and thereby undermine it, especially where the superstructure is founded on the mound near low-water level, and there is, therefore, no adequate cushion of water above the mound to diminish the effect of the recoil on the foundation.

The mound constituting the lower portion of the composite type of breakwater has been formed in the same varied way as simple mound breakwaters, namely, of rubble, sorted rubble, rubble protected by concrete blocks, and wholly of concrete blocks. The only differences introduced in the mound in this case are, that it is not carried up so high, that the top portion covered by the superstructure needs no further protection, and that special protection has to be provided on the slope of the mound adjacent to the outer toe of the superstructure.

Superstructures.

The forms of the superstructures exhibit considerable variations, ranging from a few concrete blocks laid in courses on the top of the mound, or a paving furnishing a quay protected by a narrow parapet wall on the sea side, up to a large, solid structure, only differing from an upright-wall breakwater in being founded upon a mound, instead of on the sea-bottom. Notwithstanding, however, this great variety in design, these breakwaters may be divided into two distinct classes, namely, breakwaters having their superstructures founded at or near low-water level, and breakwaters with superstructures founded some depth below low water. The object in the first case is to lay the foundations of the superstructure on the mound at the lowest level consistent with building a solid structure with blocks set in mortar, out of water, in the ordinary manner; and, in the second case, to stop the raising of the mound at such a depth under water as to secure it from displacement by the waves. In fact, the solidity and facility of construction of the superstructure were the primary considerations in the older form of breakwater; whereas the stability of the mound and the avoidance of the undermining of the superstructure have been regarded as the most important provisions in the more modern form.

Superstructures at low-water level.

Well-known examples of breakwaters formed of a rubble mound surmounted by a superstructure founded at or near low water or sea-level, are furnished by Cherbourg and Holyhead breakwaters, the inner breakwater at Portland, and the breakwaters at Marseilles, Genoa, Civita Vecchia, Naples, Trieste and other Mediterranean ports. The very exposed breakwater at Alderney was commenced on this principle about the middle of the 19th century; and the outer breakwaters at Leghorn and St Jean de Luz have superstructures founded at low water on concrete-block mounds.

The long, detached breakwater sheltering the series of basins formed by wide projecting jetties along the sea coast at Marseilles (see DOCK), is a typical instance of a breakwater where a quay has been formed on the top of a sorted rubble mound, sheltered on the sea side by a high wall, or narrow superstructure, founded at sea-level, and protected on the sea slope of the mound from undermining by large concrete blocks deposited at random (fig. 5). In this case the quay has been rendered accessible for vessels on the harbour side by a quay wall, formed of concrete blocks deposited one above the other, providing a vertical face to a depth of about 22-3/4 ft. below sea-level; and a similar arrangement has been adopted at Trieste, and in a less effective manner at Civita Vecchia and Naples. At Marseilles, however, when the breakwater reached great depths, the quay was abandoned on account of the increased exposure, and the extension made of a simple rubble mound, protected on the sea side, from the top down to 20 ft. below sea-level, by large concrete blocks deposited at random.

The superstructures at Holyhead and Portland, being built on the old weak system of a sea wall and a harbour wall, with rubble filling between, are protected on the sea side by raising the rubble against them from low water up to high water of spring tides; whereas the superstructure of Cherbourg breakwater, being built solid and less exposed, is only protected on the sea side by large rubble and some concrete blocks, forming an apron raised slightly above low water. These three breakwaters are provided with a quay sheltered by a raised wall or promenade on the sea side; but as the mound on the harbour side is raised up to, or a little above low water, the quay is only accessible for vessels near high water. This, however, is of comparatively little importance, since these quays, though very useful for access to the end of the breakwater in fairly calm weather, are inaccessible in exposed situations with a rough sea; and quays for the accommodation of vessels are better provided well within the sheltered harbour.

The outer portions of the main breakwaters at Genoa and at Naples (fig. 6), extending into depths of about 75 ft. and 110 ft. respectively, have been provided with superstructures, similar in type, but more solid than the superstructure at Marseilles; and the sorted rubble mounds upon which the superstructures rest are protected on the sea slope by stepped courses of concrete blocks from a depth of 26 ft. below sea-level, covered over at the top by a masonry apron forming a prolongation of the superstructure. The outer extension of the main breakwater at Civita Vecchia furnishes an interesting example of a composite form of breakwater, in which the rubble mound has been protected, and greatly reduced in volume and extent in deep water, by stepped courses of concrete blocks carried up from near the bottom of the mound (fig. 7).

The breakwaters in front of Havre, constructed in 1896-1907, for sheltering the altered entrance to the port, were formed of a sorted rubble mound, protected on the sea slope by concrete blocks, and raised a little above low water of spring tides, upon which large blocks of masonry, built on land, were deposited with their upper surfaces about 18 in. above low water of neap tides. As soon as settlement of the mound under the action of the sea appeared to have ceased, these masonry blocks were connected together by filling the spaces between them with masonry; and a solid masonry superstructure was built during low tide on this foundation layer, as shown in fig. 8.

The breakwaters constructed for forming harbours on the sea coast of the United States are almost all rubble-mound breakwaters. The two old detached breakwaters sheltering Delaware Harbour near the south-eastern extremity of Delaware Bay, were formed of simple rubble mounds raised about 13 ft. above low water; but in closing the gap between them towards the close of the 19th century, the rubble mound was stopped at low water, and a sort of superstructure, consisting of stepped courses of large rectangular blocks of stone on the sea and harbour sides, with tightly packed rubble between them and capped across the top for a width of 20 ft. with a course of large blocks, was raised to 14 ft. above low water, resembling, on a small scale, the upper part of the Civita Vecchia mound (fig. 7). A similar construction was adopted for the new breakwater formed in 1897-1901 for providing a harbour of refuge at the mouth of Delaware Bay; but in this instance the mound was made considerably wider at the top, and had to be protected along the toe of the superstructure on the sea side by large stones. The same form of superstructure, also, on a narrower base, was resorted to for a breakwater in deeper water at San Pedro in California with satisfactory results. When, however, a breakwater of the Delaware type was in progress for forming a harbour of refuge in Sandy Bay, Massachusetts, in front of Rockport to the north of Boston, the upper 13 ft. of the 600 ft. of completed superstructure were carried away during a severe storm in 1898 leaving only a portion about 5 ft. in height above low water, the average rise of tide there being 8-3/5 ft. The design was, accordingly, modified in 1902, by commencing the stepped courses of large stones at 12 ft. below mean low water on each slope, instead of at low water raising this kind of superstructure to 22 ft. above low water in place of 18 ft., and capping the stepped courses at the top by large blocks of stone, 20 ft. long and 5 ft. deep, laid across the breakwater, which thus presented a marked resemblance to the upper section of the mound at Civita Vecchia.

Superstructure below low-water level.

The breakwater at Sandy Bay just referred to, and the one at Civita Vecchia, which it somewhat resembles, approximate to that class of breakwater which has a superstructure founded below low-water level, so far as stepped courses of blocks can be regarded as forming part of a superstructure; but as the protection afforded by these courses differs only in the arrangement of the blocks from that obtained by blocks deposited at random, it appears expedient to restrict this class to the more solid structures, resembling upright-wall breakwaters, founded on a mound at some depth below low water As the main object of this class of breakwater is to keep the mound below the zone of disturbance by waves in severe storms, it is evident that the depth at which the superstructure is founded should vary directly with the exposure of the site, and inversely with the size of the materials forming the mound.

The depth at which waves striking against a superstructure may affect a rubble mound near its toe by the recoil, has been only very gradually realized. Thus, in 1847, the Alderney breakwater, though fully exposed to the Atlantic Ocean, was begun with a superstructure founded at low water of spring tides upon a rubble mound; but within two years the foundations had to be carried down 12 it. below low water, and this was adhered to till close to the head, though the breakwater, completed in 1864, extended 4700 ft. from the shore into a depth of 130 ft. at low tide, the rise of springs being 17 ft. The great recoil of the waves in storms from the promenade wall on the sea side of the superstructure, raised 33 ft. above low water, disturbed the sea slope of the mound along the outer portion, situated in depths of 80 to 130 ft. at low water, out to a distance of 90 ft. from the superstructure and to a depth of 20 ft.; whilst the outer toe of the superstructure was only preserved from being undermined by frequent deposits of stone along the sea face.

The south-west breakwater at Colombo Harbour, constructed in 1876-1884, facing the seas raised by the south-west monsoon, extends into a depth of 39 ft. at low water, where the rise of tide is only 2 ft. at springs, and was built with a superstructure founded upon a rubble mound at a depth of 20 ft. below low water, but raised only 12 ft. above this level without any parapet, and protected along its sea face by an apron of concrete in bags. In this case, not only was the depth of the sea much less than at Alderney, but the small elevation of the superstructure above low water enabled a portion of the waves in storms to pass over it without materially impairing the shelter inside. These circumstances reduced the shock and recoil of the waves; and the greater depth of the foundations and the protection of the toe of the superstructure greatly diminished the danger of undermining. Consequently, the Colombo breakwater has been preserved from the injuries to which the outer part of the Alderney breakwater succumbed. Nevertheless, in subsequently constructing the north-west detached breakwater, less exposed to the south-west monsoon, but in somewhat deeper water (see COLOMBO), the experience of the action of the sea on the south-west breakwater led to the laying of the foundations of the superstructure on the rubble mound at 30-3/4 ft. below low water (fig. 9).

The breakwater for sheltering Peterhead Bay, where the rise of springs is 11-1/4 ft., was begun in 1888, and designed to extend into a depth of 9-1/2 fathoms at low water (see HARBOUR). It was built as an upright wall upon the rocky bottom for 1000 ft. from the shore; but owing to the increase in depth it was decided to construct the outer portion with a rubble base, surmounted by a superstructure originally designed to be founded 30 ft. below low water. As, however, during a storm in October 1898, the recoil of the waves from the breakwater, which is provided with a promenade wall rising about 35 ft. above low water, disturbed rubble to a depth of 36-1/2 ft., the superstructure has been founded 43 ft. below low water on the rubble base; and its outer toe is protected from being undermined by two rows of concrete blocks on the rubble mound.

Construction of the superstructure.

Formerly, in constructing a large superstructure upon a rubble mound, it was a common practice to build a sea wall and a harbour wall several feet apart, and to fill up the intermediate,. space between them with rubble, so as economically to form a wide structure on the top of the mound, and provide an adequate width for a quay along the top. A sheltering wall was also generally erected on the sea side. This, for instance, was the system of construction adopted for the superstructures, founded at low water, of Holyhead breakwater, Portland inner breakwater, and St Catherine's, Jersey, breakwater. Alderney breakwater, the Tyne breakwaters and Colombo south-west breakwater were also commenced with a precisely similar method of construction. The system, however, possesses a Very serious defect for exposed situations, namely, that if once the sea can force a small opening through the sea wall, the scooping out of the rubble filling, and the overthrow of the thinner harbour wall are rapidly accomplished if the storm continues or recurs before repairs can be effected. Experience soon proved at Alderney and Tynemouth the unsuitability of the system for very exposed situations; and the intermediate rubble filling was replaced by solid hearting down to a certain depth. At Colombo, after the first 1326 ft. of the south-west breakwater had been built with two walls and intermediate rubble for the superstructure, as the exposure proved greater than had been anticipated, and a slight displacement of part of the sea wall, 24 ft. wide, had occurred, the rubble filling was discontinued, and the two walls were united into a solid superstructure 34 ft. in width.

sloping block system.

A difficulty experienced in constructing a solid superstructure on the top of a rubble mound consists in the settlement of the mound which takes place when the weight of the superstructure comes on it, in spite of the consolidation of the rubble under the action of the sea for one or two years before the erection of the superstructure on it is undertaken. When the superstructure is carried out in long stepped-forward courses, irregular settlement is particularly liable to occur, as the weight is progressively imposed in an uneven manner on the yielding rubble, in proportion to the height of the rubble base and its deficiency in compactness. The open joints between the blocks laid below low water enable the air to penetrate, on the recoil of the waves at low tide, into any internal fissures resulting from settlement; and the following wave, on striking the superstructure, compresses the air inside, which, on its expansion when the wave recedes, forces out any unconnected face stones. The hole thus formed is rapidly enlarged by the sea if the storm continues; and a breach is eventually formed. The sloping-block system was, accordingly devised to provide against the dislocation of superstructures by the inevitable irregular settlement, by forming them of a series of sloping sections, composed of concrete blocks laid at an angle, free to settle independently on the mound, as shown in fig. 10. In the first superstructure thus constructed, in 1869-1874, at the entrance to Karachi harbour, founded 15 ft. below low water on a rubble mound and 24 ft. high, the blocks in each section, consisting of two rows of three superposed blocks laid at an inclination of 76 deg. shorewards, were entirely unconnected; and, consequently, though the superstructure offered as little opposition as practicable to the waves by having its top slightly below high water, the waves in a storm forcing their way into the vertical joint between the two rows, threw some of the top 27-ton blocks of the inner row down on the harbour slope of the mound. This cause of damage was obviated in effecting the repairs, by connecting the top blocks with the next ones by stone dowels. The superstructures of the breakwaters forming Madras harbour, commenced in 1876, were similarly constructed in sloping, independent sections, 4-1/2 ft. thick, composed of two distinct rows of four tiers of blocks founded upon a rubble mound 22 ft. below low water (the rise of tide at springs being 3-1/3 ft.), and raised 3-1/2 ft. above high water. The blocks in each row were connected by a tenon, projecting at the top of each block, fitting into a mortise in the block above it. The retention of the vertical joint however, between the two rows led to the overthrow of the greater part of the superstructures of the outer arms at Madras, situated in a depth of 45 ft. and facing the Indian Ocean, during a cyclone of 1881. In the reconstruction of these superstructures, bond was introduced in the successive tiers of each sloping section; and the blocks of the two upper tiers were cramped together. Alter settlement on the mound had ceased, a thick capping of mass concrete was laid all along the top of the superstructure; and, finally, a mound of concrete blocks was deposited at random on the mound in front of the sea face of the superstructure to break the force of the waves and prevent undermining. A similar wave-breaker, with blocks somewhat specially arranged, was deposited in front of the sloping concrete-block superstructure of the breakwater sheltering the Portuguese harbour of Marmagao on the west coast of India, more particularly with the object of preventing the undermining of the superstructure founded only 18 ft. below low water of spring tides, on a layer of rubble spread on the muddy sea-bottom, the settlement in this case being occasioned by the yielding of the soft clay bed. This breakwater having been commenced in 1884, subsequently to the failure at Madras, the superstructure, formed of concrete blocks weighing 28-1/2 to 37-1/2 tons was built in accordance with the design adopted for the reconstructed outer arms at Madras, with the exceptions that the separate sections were given a slope of 70 deg. instead of 76 deg. shorewards to ensure greater stability, that the superstructure was made 30 ft in width instead of 24 ft., that the top tier of blocks in each section was secured to the next tier by two dowels, each formed of a bundle of four rails, penetrating 3-1/2 ft. into each tier, so as to enable the top courses to be more correctly aligned than with tenons and mortises, and that the outer side of the continuous concrete-in-mass capping was raised about 22 ft. above low water (fig. 11). The rise of spring tides at Marmagao is 6 ft.

At Colombo the superstructures of both the south-west and north-west breakwaters were built on the sloping-block system in sections 5-1/2 ft. thick, and built at an angle of 68 deg. shorewards (fig. 10); and the blocks, from 16-1/2 to 31 tons in weight, were laid in bonded courses across each section, with four tiers of blocks in the south-west breakwater founded 20 ft. below low water on the rubble mound, and six tiers of blocks in the north-west breakwater, founded 30-3/4 ft below low water. Five oblong grooves, moreover, were formed in moulding the blocks, in the adjacent faces of each sloping section, extending from top to bottom of the sections. These, when settlement on the mound had ceased, were filled with concrete in bags which not only connected the tiers of blocks in each section together, but also joined the several sections to one another, and effectually closed the transverse joints between the successive sections, which were further connected together by a continuous capping of concrete-in-mass along the whole length of the breakwater.

These sloping blocks are laid by powerful overhanging, block-setting cranes, called Titans (see CRANES), which travel along the completed portion of the breakwater, and lay the blocks in advance on the mound levelled by divers, as shown in fig. 10. The earlier Titans, employed for the sloping-block superstructures at Karachi and Madras, were constructed to travel only backwards and forwards on the completed work, with sufficient sideways movement of the little trolley travelling along the overhanging arm, from which the block is suspended at the proper angle, to lay the blocks for each side of the superstructure. In later forms, however, such for instance as the Titan laying the 14-ton blocks at Peterhead breakwater in horizontal courses, the overhanging arm is supported centrally on a ring of rollers, placed on the top of the truck on which the Titan travels, so that it can revolve and deposit blocks at the side of the superstructure for protecting the mound, as well as in advance of the finished work. These Titans possess the important advantage over the timber staging formerly employed for such breakwaters, that, in exposed situations, they can be moved back into shelter on the approach of a storm, or for the winter or stormy months, instead of, as in the case of staging, remaining out exposed to the danger of being carried away during stormy weather, or necessitating loss of time in erection at the beginning of the working season.

Though composite breakwaters are still occasionally constructed with a superstructure founded on a rubble mound at, or above, low-water level, these breakwaters are now almost always constructed with the superstructure founded at some depth below low water, even at harbours on the continent of Europe, where formerly broad quays founded at sea-level, protected by a parapet wall and outer concrete blocks, were the regular form of superstructure adopted. The breakwater for the extension of the harbour at Naples provides an interesting example of this change of design. A solid superstructure, formed of large concrete blocks capped with masonry, about 50 ft. wide at the base, is laid on a high rubble mound at a depth of 31 ft. below mean sea-level, and provides a quay on the top, 24-1/2 ft. wide, protected on the sea side by a promenade wall, 10 ft. high and 12-1/2 ft. wide at the top, raised 19-2/3 ft. above sea-level (fig. 12). In view of the increased depth at which superstructures are now founded upon rubble mounds, causing the breakwaters to approximate more and more to the upright-wall type, it might seem at first sight that the rubble base might be dispensed with, and the superstructure founded directly on the bed of the sea. Two circumstances, however, still render the composite form of breakwater indispensable in certain cases: (1) the great depth into which breakwaters have sometimes to extend, reaching about 56 ft. below low water at Peterhead, and 102 ft. below mean sea-level at Naples; and (2) the necessity, where the sea-bottom is soft or liable: to be eroded by scour, of interposing a wide base between the upright superstructure and the bed of the sea.

The injuries to which composite breakwaters appear to have been specially subject must be attributed to the greater exposure and depth of the sites in which they have been frequently constructed, as compared with rubble mounds or upright walls. The latter types, indeed, are not well suited for erection in deep water, in the first case, on account of the very large quantity of materials required for a high mound with flat slopes, and in the second, owing to the increased pressure of air under which divers have to work in laying blocks for an upright wall in deep water. The ample depth in which superstructures are founded, the due protection afforded to their outer toe, the adoption of the sloping-block system for their construction, and the dispensing in most cases with a high sheltering wall on the sea side of the superstructure, render modern superstructures as stable as upright-wall breakwaters of similar height. Nevertheless, superstructures require to be given a greater thickness than similar upright walls, because the greater depth of water in which such composite breakwaters are built causes them to be exposed to larger waves under similar conditions.

The superstructures of composite breakwaters erected by the United States for harbours on the shores of Lake Superior were formerly in some cases composed of timber cribs floated into position and sunk by filling them with rubble stone. On account of the cheapness of timber several years ago in those regions, this simple mode of construction was also economical, even though the rapid decay of the timber in the portions of the cribs where it was alternately wet and dry involved its renewal about every fifteen years on the average. Owing, however, to the fact that the price of timber has increased considerably, whilst that of Portland cement has been reduced, durable concrete superstructures are beginning to be substituted for the rapidly decaying cribwork structures.

With the exception perhaps of the Alderney breakwater, which, owing to its exceptional exposure and the unparalleled depth into which it extended, had its superstructure so often breached by the sea that, owing to the cost of maintenance, the inner portion only has been kept in repair, the composite breakwater of Bilbao harbour has probably proved the most difficult to construct on account of its great exposure. The original design consisted of a wide rubble mound up to about 16-1/2 ft. below low water, a mound of large concrete blocks up to low water of equinoctial spring tides, and a solid masonry superstructure well protected at its outer toe by a projection of masonry, and raised several feet above high water, forming a quay sheltered by a promenade wall. The rise of equinoctial spring tides at the mouth of the river Nervion is 14-3/4 ft. In carrying out the work, however, the superstructure built in the summer months was for the most part destroyed by the following winter storms; and, accordingly, the superstructure was eventually constructed on a widened rubble base, so as to be sheltered to some extent by the outlying concrete-block mound already deposited, a system subsequently adopted in rebuilding the damaged portion of the North Pier at Tynemouth under shelter of the ruins of the previous work. The modified superstructure of the Bilbao breakwater was founded on the extended rubble mound at a depth of 16-1/4 ft. below low water, and formed of iron caissons partially filled with concrete and floated out, sunk in position, and filled up with concrete blocks and concrete. It thus consists of a continuous row of concrete blocks, each of them being 42-2/3 ft. in width across the breakwater, 23 ft. in length along the line of the breakwater, 23 ft. high, and weighing 1400 tons. These caisson blocks, raised 6-3/4 ft. above low water, form the base of the superstructure, upon which the upper part was built of concrete blocks on each face with mass concrete filling between them, forming a continuous quay, 24 ft. wide, raised 8 ft. above high tide, and slightly sheltered by a curved parapet block only 5 ft. high. The outer toe of the caisson blocks is protected from being undermined by two tiers of large concrete blocks laid flat on the rubble mound. This superstructure has successfully resisted the attacks of the Atlantic waves rolling into the bay. At this breakwater and at Tynemouth advantage has been taken of the protection unintentionally provided by previous failures, by which the waves are broken before reaching the superstructure and pier respectively; but instead of introducing a wave-breaker of concrete blocks, for a protection to the superstructure, as arranged at Marmagao (fig. 11) and the outer arms at Madras, it would appear preferable to increase the width of the solid superstructure, if necessary, as carried out at Naples (fig. 12). and to dispense with a parapet and keep the superstructure low, as being unsuitable for a quay in exposed situations, according to the plan adopted at Colombo (fig. 9).

3. _Upright-Wall Breakwaters._--The third type of breakwater consists of a solid structure founded directly on the sea-bottom, in the form of an upright wall, with only a moderate batter on each face. This form of breakwater is strictly limited to sites where the bed of the sea consists of rock, chalk, boulders, or other hard bottom not subject to erosion by scour, and where the depth does not exceed about 40 to 50 ft. If a solid breakwater were erected on a soft yielding bottom, it would be exposed to dislocation from irregular settlement; and such a structure, by obstructing or diverting the existing currents, tends to create a scour along its base; whilst the waves in recoiling from its sea face are very liable to produce erosion of the sea-bottom along its outer toe. Moreover, when the foundations for an upright-wall breakwater have to be levelled by divers, and the blocks laid under water by their help, the extension of such a breakwater into a considerable depth is undesirable on account of the increased pressure imposed upon diving operations.

The Admiralty pier at Dover was begun about the middle of the 19th century, and furnishes an early and notable example of an upright-wall breakwater resting upon a hard chalk bottom; and it was subsequently extended to a depth of about 42 ft. at low tide, in connexion with the works for forming a closed naval harbour at Dover. This breakwater, the Prince of Wales pier of the commercial harbour, and the eastern breakwater and detached south breakwater for the naval harbour, were all founded on a levelled bottom, carried down to the hard chalk underlying the surface layer, by means of men in diving-bells. The extension of the Admiralty pier and the other breakwaters of Dover harbour consist of bonded courses of concrete blocks, from 26 to 40 tons in weight, as shown in figs. 13 and 14, the outer blocks above low water being formed on their exposed side with a facing of granite rubble. The blocks, composed of six parts of sand and stones to one part of Portland cement, moulded in frames, and left to set thoroughly in the block-yard before being used, are all joggled together, and above low-water level are bedded in cement and the joints filled with cement grout. The blocks were laid by Goliath travelling cranes running on temporary staging supported at intervals of 50-1/4 ft. by clusters of iron piles carried down into the chalk bottom. On each line of staging there were four Goliaths, preceded by a stage-erecting machine. The front Goliath was used for working a grab for excavating the surface layer of chalk, which was finally levelled by divers, the second for carrying the diving-bell, the third for laying the blocks below low water, and the fourth for setting the blocks above low water. This succession of Goliaths enabled more rapid progress to be made than with a single Titan at the end of a breakwater; but it involved a considerable increase in the cost of the plant, owing to the temporary staging required. The foundations were carried down from 4 to 6 ft. into the chalk bottom, the deepest being 53 ft. below low water of spring tides, and the average 47 ft. With a rise of tide at springs of 18-3/4 ft., the average depth is thus approximately 66 ft. at high tide, necessitating a pressure of 29 lb. on the square inch, which is the limit at which men can work without inconvenience in the diving-bells. The breakwaters are raised about 11 ft. above high water of springs. The detached southern breakwater was finished off at this level; but the extended western breakwater, or Admiralty pier, is provided with a promenade parapet on its exposed side, rising 13 ft. above the quay; and the eastern breakwater also has a parapet on its exposed eastern side, raised, however, only 9 ft. above its quay. The breakwaters are protected from scour along their outer toe by an apron of concrete blocks, extending 25 ft. out from their sea face.

Concrete bag foundations.

The levelling of the foundations for laying the courses of an upright-wall breakwater is costly and tedious, even in chalk; and the expense and delay are considerably enhanced where the bottom is hard rock. Accordingly, in constructing two breakwaters at the entrance to Aberdeen harbour on a bottom of granite in 1870-1877, concrete bags were laid on the sea-bed; and these bags, by adapting themselves to the rocky irregularities, obviated levelling the bottom. They formed the foundation for the concrete blocks in the south breakwater; and by the deposit of successive layers of 50-ton concrete bags till they rose above low water, they constituted the whole of the submerged portion of the north breakwater. The 50-ton bags were deposited from hopper barges towed out to the site; and the portions of both breakwaters above low water were carried up with mass concrete. Subsequently, the breakwater at Newhaven was constructed on a foundation of chalk, with lop-ton concrete bags up to low water, and mass concrete above. Still later, the two breakwaters sheltering the approach to the river Wear (see HARBOUR) and the Sunderland docks were built with a foundation mound of concrete in bags, 56 to 116 tons in weight, on the uneven sea-bottom, raised slightly above low water of spring tides, on which a solid upright wall was erected, formed of concrete blocks on each side faced with granite, filled in the centre and capped on the top with mass concrete. The most exposed northern Roker breakwater, raised about 11 ft. above high water of springs where the rise is 14 ft. 5 in., is devoid of a parapet; but a subway formed near the top in each breakwater gives access to the light on the pierhead in stormy weather (fig. 15). These concrete bags are made by lining the hopper of the barge with jute canvas, which receives the concrete and is sewn up to form a bag whilst the barge is being towed to the site. The concrete is thus deposited unset, and readily accommodates itself to the irregularities of the bottom or of the mound of bags; and sufficient liquid grout oozes out of the canvas when the bag is compressed, to unite the bags into a solid mass, so that with the mass concrete on the top, the breakwater forms a monolith. This system has been extended to the portion of the superstructure of the eastern, little-exposed breakwater of Bilbao harbour below low water, where the rubble mound is of moderate height; but this application of the system appears less satisfactory, as settlement of the superstructure on the mound would produce cracks in the set concrete in the bags.

Foundations with large blocks.

Foundation blocks of 2500 to 3000 tons have been deposited for raising the walls on each side of the wide portion of the Zeebrugge breakwater (fig. 16) from the sea-bottom to above low water, and also 4400-ton blocks along the narrow outer portion (see HARBOUR), by building iron caissons, open at the top, in the dry bed of the Bruges ship-canal, lining them with concrete, and after the canal was filled with water, floating them out one by one in calm weather, sinking them in position by admitting water, and then filling them with concrete under water from closed skips which open at the bottom directly they begin to be raised. The firm sea-bed is levelled by small rubble for receiving the large blocks, whose outer toe is protected from undermining by a layer of big blocks of stone extending out for a width of 50 ft.; and then the breakwater walls are raised above high water by 55-ton concrete blocks, set in cement at low tide; and the upper portions are completed by concrete-in-mass within framing.

Concrete monoliths.

Sometimes funds are not available for a large plant; and in such cases small upright-wall breakwaters may be constructed in a moderate depth of water on a hard bottom of rock, chalk or boulders, by erecting timber framing in suitable lengths, lining it inside with jute cloth, and then depositing concrete below low water in closed hopper skips lowered to the bottom before releasing the concrete, which must be effected with great care to avoid allowing the concrete to fall through the water. The portion of the breakwater above low water is then raised by tide-work with mass concrete within frames, in which large blocks of stone may be bedded, provided they do not touch one another and are kept away from the face, which should be formed with concrete containing a larger proportion of cement. As long continuous lengths of concrete crack across under variations in temperature, it is advisable to form fine straight divisions across the upper part of a concrete breakwater in construction, as substitutes for irregular cracks.

Upright-wall breakwaters should not be formed with two narrow walls and intermediate filling, as the safety of such a breakwater depends entirely on the sea-wall being maintained intact. A warning of the danger of this system of construction, combined with a high parapet, was furnished by the south breakwater of Newcastle harbour in Dundrum Bay, Ireland, which was breached by a storm in 1868, and eventually almost wholly destroyed; whilst its ruins for many years filled up the harbour which it had been erected to protect. In designing its reconstruction in 1897, it was found possible to provide a solid upright wall of suitable strength with the materials scattered over the harbour, together with an extension needed for providing proper protection at the entrance. This work was completed in 1906.

Upright-wall breakwaters and superstructures are generally made of the same thickness throughout, irrespective of the differences in depth and exposure which are often met with in different parts of the same breakwater. This may be accounted for by the general custom of regarding the top of an upright wall or superstructure as a quay, which should naturally be given a uniform width; and this view has also led to the very general practice of sheltering the top of these structures with a parapet. Generally the width is proportioned to the most exposed part, so that the only result is an excess of expenditure in the inner portion to secure uniformity. When, however, as at Madras, the width of the structure is reduced to a minimum, the action of the sea demonstrates that the strength of the structure must be proportioned to the depth and exposure. In small fishery piers, where great economy is essential to obtain the maximum shelter at limited expense, it appears expedient to make the width of the breakwater proportionate to the depth. This was done in Babbacombe Bay; and in reconstructing the southern breakwater at Newcastle, Ireland, advantage was taken of a change in direction of the outer half to introduce an addition to the width, so as to make the strength of the breakwater proportionate to the increase in depth and exposure. In large structures, however, uniformity of design may be desirable for each straight length of breakwater; though where two or more breakwaters or outer arms enclose a harbour, the design should obviously be modified to suit the depth and exposure. At Colombo harbour, the superstructure of the less exposed north-west breakwater has been made slightly narrower than that of the south-west breakwater; and a simple rubble mound shelters the harbour from the moderate north-east monsoon. In special cases, where a breakwater has to serve as a quay, like the Admiralty pier at Dover, a high parapet wall is essential; but in most cases, where a parapet merely enables the breakwater to be more readily accessible in moderate weather, it would be advisable to keep it very low, or to dispense with it altogether, as at the southern Dover breakwater, the northern breakwater at Sunderland, and the Colombo western breakwaters. This course is particularly expedient in very exposed sites, as a high parapet intensifies the shock of the waves against a breakwater and their erosive recoil. Moreover, when a light has to be attended to at the end of a breakwater, sheltered access can be provided by a subway, as at Sunderland.

Structures in the sea almost always require works of maintenance; and when a severe storm has caused any injury, it is most important to carry out the repairs at the earliest available moment, as the waves rapidly enlarge any holes that they may have formed in weak places. (L. F. V.-H.)

BREAL, MICHEL JULES ALFRED (1832- ), French philologist, was born on the 26th of March 1832, at Landau in Rhenish Bavaria, of French parents. After studying at Weissenburg, Metz and Paris, he entered the Ecole Normale in 1852. In 1857 he went to Berlin, where he studied Sanskrit under Bopp and Weber. On his return to France he obtained an appointment in the department of oriental MSS. at the Bibliotheque Imperiale. In 1864 he became professor of comparative grammar at the College de France, in 1875 member of the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres, in 1879 _inspecteur-general_ of public instruction for higher schools until the abolition of the office in 1888. In 1890 he was made commander of the Legion of Honour. Among his works, which deal mainly with mythological and philological subjects, may be mentioned: _L'Etude des origines de la religion Zoroastrienne_ (1862), for which a prize was awarded him by the Academie des Inscriptions; _Hercule et Cacus_ (1863), in which he disputes the principles of the symbolic school in the interpretation of myths; _Le Mythe d'Oedipe_ (1864); _Les Tables Eugubines_ (1875); _Melanges de mythologie et de linguistique_ (2nd. ed., 1882); _Lecons de mots_ (1882,1886), _Dictionnaire etymologique latin_ (1885) and _Grammaire latine_ (1890). His _Essai de Semantique_ (1897), on the signification of words, has been translated into English by Mrs H. Cust with preface by J.P. Postgate. His translation of Bopp's _Comparative Grammar_ (1866-1874), with introductions, is highly valued. He has also written pamphlets on education in France, the teaching of ancient languages, and the reform of French orthography. In 1906 he published _Pour mieux connaitre Homere_.

BREAM (_Abramis_), a fish of the Cyprinid family, characterized by a deep, strongly compressed body, with short dorsal and long anal fins, the latter with more than sixteen branched rays, and the small inferior mouth. There are two species in the British Isles, the common bream, _A. brama_, reaching a length of 2 ft. and a weight of 12 lb., and the white bream or bream flat, _A. blicca_, a smaller and, in most places, rarer species. Both occur in slow-running rivers, canals, ponds and reservoirs. Bream are usually despised for the table in England, but fish from large lakes, if well prepared, are by no means deserving of ostracism. In the days of medieval abbeys, when the provident Cistercian monks attached great importance to pond culture, they gave the first place to the tench and bream, the carp still being unknown in the greater part of Europe. At the present day, the poorer Jews in large English cities make a great consumption of bream--and other Cyprinids, most of them being imported alive from Holland and sold in the Jewish fish markets. In America the name bream is commonly given to the golden shiner minnow (_Abramis chrysoleucus_), to the pumpkin-seed sunfish (_Eupomotis gibbosus_), and to some kinds of porgy (_Sparidae_).

BREAST (a word common to Teutonic languages, of the Ger. _Brust_, possibly connected with an O. Sax. _brustian_, to bud), the term properly confined to the external projecting parts of the thorax in females, which contain the mammary glands (for anatomy, and diseases, see MAMMARY GLAND); more generally it is used of the external part of the thorax in animals, including man, lying between the neck and the abdomen.

BREAUTE, FALKES DE (d. 1226), one of the foreign mercenaries of King John of England, from whom he received in marriage the heiress of the earldom of Devon. On the outbreak of the Barons' War (1215) the king gave him the sheriffdoms of six midland shires and the custody of many castles. He fulfilled his military duties with as much skill as cruelty. The royalists owed to his daring the decisive victory of Lincoln (1217). But after the death of William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, Falkes joined the feudal opposition in conspiring against Hubert de Burgh. Deprived in 1223 of most of his honours, he was drawn into a rebellion by the imprudence of his brother, who captured a royal justice and threw him into prison (1224). Falkes was allowed to go into exile after his submission, and endeavoured to obtain a pardon through the mediation of Pope Honorius III. But this was refused, and Falkes died at St Cyriac in 1226.

See Shirley, _Royal Letters_, vol. i.; the _Patent_ and _Close Rolls_; Pauli, _Geschichte von England_, vol. i. pp. 540-545. (H. W. C. D.)

BRECCIA, in petrology, the name given to rocks consisting of angular fragments embedded in a matrix. They may be composed of volcanic rocks, limestones, siliceous charts, sandstones, in fact of any kind of material, and the matrix, which usually corresponds to some extent to the fragments it encloses, may be siliceous, calcareous, argillaceous, &c. The distinctive character of the group is the sharp-edged and unworn shapes of the fragments; in conglomerates the pebbles are rounded and water-worn, having been transported by waves and currents from some distance. There are many ways in which breccias may originate. Some are formed by ordinary processes of atmospheric erosion; frost, rain and gravity break up exposed surfaces of rock and detach pieces of all sizes; in this way screes are formed at the bases of cliffs, and barren mountain-tops are covered with broken debris. If such accumulations gather and are changed into hard rock by pressure and other indurating agencies they make typical breccias. Conglomerates often pass into rocks of this type, the difference being merely that the fragments are of purely local origin, and are unworn because they have not been transported. In caves breccias of limestone are produced by the collapse of part of the roof, covering the floor with broken masses. Coral reefs often contain extensive areas of limestone breccia, formed of detached pieces of rock which have been dislodged from the surface and have been carried down the steep external slopes of the reef. Volcanic breccias are very common near active or extinct craters, as sudden outbursts of steam bear fragments from the older rocks and scatter them over the ground.

Another group of breccias is due to crushing; these are produced in fissures, faults and veins, below the surface, and maybe described as "crush-breccias" and "friction-breccias." Very important and well-known examples of this class occur as veinstones, which may be metalliferous or not. A fissure is formed, probably by slight crustal movements, and is subsequently filled with material deposited from solution (quartz, calcite, barytes, &c.). Very often displacement of the walls again takes place, and the infilling or "veinstone" is torn apart and brecciated. It may then be cemented together by a further introduction of mineral matter, which may be the same as that first deposited or quite different. In important veins this process is often repeated several times: detached pieces of the country rock are mingled with the shattered veinstone, and generally experience alteration by the percolating mineral solutions. Other crush-breccias occurring on a much larger scale are due to the folding of strata which have unequal plasticities. If, for example, shales and sandstones are bent into a series of arches, the sandstones being harder and more resistant will tend to crack, while the shales, which are soft and flow under great pressures, are injected into the crevices and separate the broken pieces from one another. Continued movement will give the brecciated fragments of sandstone a rounded form by rubbing them against one another, and, in this way, a crush-conglomerate is produced. Great masses of limestone in the Alps, Scottish Highlands, and all regions of intense folding are thus converted into breccias. Cherts frequently also show this structure; igneous rocks less commonly do so; but it is perhaps most common where there have been thin bedded alternations of rocks of different character, such as limestone and dolerite, limestone and quartzite, shale or phyllite and sandstone. Fault-breccias closely resemble vein-breccias, except that usually their fragments consist principally of the rocks which adjoin the fault and not of mineral deposits introduced in solution; but many veins occupy faults, and hence no hard and fast line can be drawn between these types of breccia.

A third group of breccias is due to movement in a partly consolidated igneous rock, and may be called "fluxion-breccias." Lava streams, especially when they consist of rhyolite, dacite and some kinds of andesite, may rapidly solidify, and then become exceedingly brittle. If any part of the mass is still liquid, it may break up the solid crust by pressure from within and the angular fragments are enveloped by the fluid lava. When the whole comes to rest and cools, it forms a typical "volcanic-fluxion-breccia." The same phenomena are sometimes exemplified in intrusive sills and sheets. The fissures which are occupied by igneous dikes may be the seat of repeated injections following one another at longer or shorter intervals; and the latter may shatter the earlier dike rocks, catching up the fragments. Among the older formations, especially when decomposition has gone on extensively, these fluxion and injection-breccias are often very hard to distinguish from the commoner volcanic-breccias and ash-beds, which have been produced by weathering, or by the explosive power of superheated steam. (J. S. F.)

BRECHIN, a royal, municipal and police burgh of Forfarshire, Scotland. Pop. (1901) 8941. It lies on the left bank of the South Esk, 7-3/4 m. west of Montrose, and has a station on the loop line of the Caledonian railway from Forfar to Bridge of Dun. Brechin is a prosperous town, of great antiquity, having been the site of a Culdee abbey. The Danes are said to have burned the town in 1012. David I. erected it into a bishopric in 1150, and it is still a see of the Episcopal Church of Scotland. In 1452 the earl of Huntly crushed the insurrection led by the earl of Crawford at the battle of Brechin Muir, and in 1645 the town and castle were harried by the marquis of Montrose. James VI. gave a grant for founding a hospital in the burgh, which yet supplies the council with funds for charity. No trace remains of the old walls and gates of the town, but the river is crossed by a two-arched stone bridge of very early date. The cathedral church of the Holy Trinity belongs to the 13th century. It is in the Pointed style, but suffered maltreatment in 1806 at the hands of restorers, whose work, however, disappeared during the restoration completed in 1902. The western gable with its flamboyant window and Gothic door and the massive square tower are all that is left of the original edifice. The modern stained glass in the chancel is reckoned amongst the finest in Scotland. Immediately adjoining the cathedral to the south-west stands the Round Tower, built about 1000. It is 86-3/4 ft. high, has at the base a circumference of 50 ft. and a diameter of 16 ft., and is capped with a hexagonal spire of 18 ft., which was added in the 15th century. This type of structure is somewhat common in Ireland, but the only Scottish examples are those at Brechin, Abernethy in Perthshire, and Egilshay in the Orkneys. Brechin Castle played a prominent part in the Scottish War of Independence. In 1303 it withstood for twenty days a siege in force by the English under Edward I., surrendering only when its governor, Sir Thomas Maule, had been slain. From the Maule family it descended to the Dalhousies. Its library contains many important MSS., among them Burns's correspondence with George Thomson, and several cartularies including those of St Andrews and Brechin. In the Vennel (alley or small street) some ruins remain of the _maison dieu_, or _hospitium_, founded in 1256 by William of Brechin. Besides these historical buildings the principal public structures include Smith's school, the municipal buildings, the free library, the episcopal library (founded by Bishop Forbes, who, as well as Bishop Abernethy-Drummond, presented a large number of volumes). The principal industries include manufactures of linen and sailcloth, bleaching, rope-making, brewing, distilling, paper-making, in addition to nurseries and freestone quarries. Brechin--which is controlled by a provost, bailies and council--unites with Arbroath, Forfar, Inverbervie and Montrose to return one member to parliament.

Edzell (pronounced Edyell, and, locally, Aigle) lies about 6 m. north of Brechin, with which it is connected by rail. It is situated on the North Esk and near the West Water, which falls into the Esk 2 m. south-west. Edzell is on the threshold of romantic Highland scenery. The picturesque ruins of Edzell Castle lie a mile to the west of the town. Once the seat of the Lindsays the estate now belongs to the earl of Dalhousie. The church of the parish of Farnell, 3-1/2 m. south-east of Brechin, was erected in 1806 after the model, so it is stated, of the famous Holy House (Casa Santa) of Loreto in Italy. It was here that the old sculptured stone giving a version of the Fall was found. Between Farnell and Brechin lies Kinnaird Castle, the seat of the earl of Southesk.

BRECKINRIDGE, JOHN CABELL (1821-1875), American soldier and political leader, was born near Lexington, Kentucky, on the 21st of January 1821. He was a member of a family prominent in the public life of Kentucky and the nation. His grandfather, John Breckinridge (1760-1806), who revised Jefferson's draft of the "Kentucky Resolutions" of 1798, was a United States senator from Kentucky in 1801-1805 and attorney-general in President Jefferson's cabinet in 1805-1806. His uncles, John Breckinridge (1797-1841), professor of pastoral theology in the Princeton Theological Seminary in 1836-1838 and for many years after secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, and Robert Jefferson Breckinridge (1800-1871), for several years superintendent of public instruction in Kentucky, an important factor in the organization of the public school system of the state, a professor from 1853 to 1871 in the Danville Presbyterian Theological Seminary at Danville, Kentucky, and the temporary chairman of the national Republican convention of 1864, were both prominent clergymen of the Presbyterian Church. His cousin, William Campbell Preston Breckinridge (1837-1904), was a Democratic representative in Congress from 1885 to 1893. Another cousin, Joseph Cabell Breckinridge (1842- ), served on the Union side in the Civil War, was a major-general of volunteers during the Spanish-American War (1898), became a major-general in the regular United States army in 1903, and was inspector-general of the United States army from 1899 until his retirement from active service in 1904.

John Cabell Breckinridge graduated in 1838 at Centre College, Danville, Kentucky, continued his studies at Princeton, and then studied law at Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky. He practised law in Frankfort, Kentucky, in 1840-1841 and in Burlington, Iowa, from 1841 to 1843, and then returned to Kentucky and followed his profession at Lexington. In 1847 he went to Mexico as major in a volunteer regiment, but arrived too late for service in the field. In 1849 he was elected a Democratic member of the Kentucky legislature, and in 1851-1855 he served in the national House of Representatives. President Pierce offered him the position of minister to Spain, but he declined it. In 1856 he was chosen vice-president of the United States on the Buchanan ticket, and although a strong pro-slavery and states rights man, he presided over the Senate with conspicuous fairness and impartiality during the trying years before the Civil War. In 1860 he was nominated for the presidency by the pro-slavery seceders from the Democratic national convention, and received a total of 72 electoral votes, including those of every Southern state except Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri. As vice-president and presiding officer of the Senate, it was his duty to make the official announcement of the election of his opponent, Lincoln. He succeeded John J. Crittenden as United States senator from Kentucky in March 1861, but having subsequently entered the Confederate service he was expelled from the Senate in December 1861. As brigadier-general he commanded the Confederate reserve at Shiloh, and in August 1862 he became major-general. On the 5th of this month he was repulsed in his attack on Baton Rouge, but he won distinction at Stone River (December 31, 1862-January 2, 1863), where his division lost nearly a third of its number. He took part in the battle of Chickamauga, defeated General Franz Sigel at Newmarket, Virginia, on the 15th of May 1864, and then, joined Lee and took part in the battles of Cold Harbor on the 1st and on the 3rd of June. In the autumn he operated in the Shenandoah Valley, and with Early was defeated by Sheridan at Winchester on the 19th of September. Being transferred to the department of South-west Virginia, he fought a number of minor engagements in eastern Tennessee, and in January 1865 became secretary of war for the Confederate States. At the close of the war he escaped to Cuba, and from there went to Europe. In 1868 he returned to the United States and resumed the practice of law at Lexington, Kentucky, where he died on the 17th of May 1875.

BRECON, or BRECKNOCK, a market town and municipal borough, the capital of Breconshire, Wales, 183 m. from London by rail, picturesquely situated nearly in the centre of the county, at the confluence of the Honddu with the Usk. Half a mile higher up the Tarell also falls into the Usk from the south. The ecclesiastical parish of Brecon consists of the two civil parishes of St John the Evangelist and St Mary, both on the left bank of the Usk, while St David's in Llanfaes is on the other side of the river, and was wholly outside the town walls. Pop. (1901) 5875. There is only one line of railway, over which several companies, however, have running powers, so that the town may be reached by the Brecon & Merthyr railway from Merthyr, Cardiff and Newport, by the Cambrian from Builth Wells, or by the Midland from Hereford and Swansea respectively. The Great Western railway has also a service of road motors between Abergavenny and Brecon. A canal running past Abergavenny connects Brecon with Merthyr.

The Priory church of St John, a massive cruciform building, originally Norman with Early English and Decorated additions, is the finest parish church in Wales, and even taking into account the cathedrals it is according to E.A. Freeman "indisputably the third church not in a state of ruin in the principality," its choir furnishing "one of the choicest examples of the Early English style." Previous to the dissolution, a rood-screen bearing a gigantic rood, the object of many pilgrimages, stood to the west of the tower. The church was restored under Sir Gilbert Scott between 1861 and 1875. St Mary's, in the centre of the town, and St David's, beyond the Usk, are now mainly modern, though the former has some of the Norman arches of the original church. There is also a Roman Catholic church (St Michael's) opened in 1851, and chapels belonging to the Baptists, Calvinistic and Wesleyan Methodists, and to the Congregationalists. In Llanfaes there was formerly a Dominican priory, but in 1542 Henry VIII. granted it with all its possessions to a collegiate church, which was transferred thither from Abergwili, and was given the name of Christ College. Many of the bishops of St David's during the 17th century occasionally resided here, and several are also buried here. A small part of the revenues went to the maintenance of a grammar-school, but in 1841 the collegiate body was dissolved, and its revenues, then amounting to about L8000 a year, were transferred to the ecclesiastical commissioners. In 1853 Henry VIII.'s charter was repealed, and under a chancery scheme adopted two years later, L1200 a year was appropriated for the school. New school buildings were erected at a cost of about L10,000 in 1862, and these were enlarged at a cost of about L5000 in 1880. The chancel of the old Dominican chapel, dating from the 13th century, was restored in 1864, and is now the school chapel. There is also a Congregationalist theological college, built in 1869 at a cost of L12,000, and now affiliated with the university of Wales. The other chief buildings of the town are the shire hall built in 1842 in the Doric style from designs by T.H. Wyatt; the Guildhall; the barracks, which are the headquarters of two battalions of the South Wales Borderers; the county infirmary founded in 1832; and the prison (in Llanfaes) for the counties of Brecon and Radnor. There is a bronze statue of the duke of Wellington (erected in 1854) by John Evan Thomas, a native of the town. The town commands a magnificent view of the Brecknock Beacons, and is noted for its promenades on the banks of the Usk, and in the priory groves. Brecon is favourably known as a fishing centre, and there is also boating on the Usk and the canal. There are several houses of interest, notably the Priory and Dr Awbrey's residence (now called Buckingham House), both built about the middle of the 16th century, but the finest specimen is Newton (about a mile out, near Llanfaes) built in 1582 by Sir John Games (a descendant of Sir David Gam), but now a farmhouse. The "Shoulder of Mutton" Inn, now known as the "Siddons Wine Vaults," was the birthplace in 1755 of Mrs Siddons.

The name Brecknock is an anglicized form of Brycheiniog, the Welsh name of the territory of Brychan (whence the alternative form of Brecon), a Goidelic chieftain, who gained possession of the Usk valley in the 5th century. The Welsh name of the town, on the other hand, has always been Aber-Honddu (the estuary of the Honddu). There is no evidence of any settlement on the site of the present town prior to about 1092, when Bernard Newmarch, after defeating Bleddin ab Maenarch, built here a castle which he made his residence and the chief stronghold of his new lordship. For this purpose he utilized what remained of the materials of the Roman fort, 3 m. to the west, at Y Gaer, which some identify as Bannium. He subsequently founded, near the castle, the Benedictine priory of St John, which he endowed and constituted a cell of Battle Abbey. In time a town grew up outside the castle, and its inhabitants received a series of charters from the de Bohuns, into which family the castle and lordship passed, the earliest recorded charter being granted by Humphrey, 3rd earl of Hereford. Under the patronage of his great-grandson, the last earl of Hereford (who lived in great splendour at the castle), the town became one of the chief centres of trade in South Wales, and a sixteen days' fair, which he granted, still survives as a hiring fair held in November. Further charters were granted by Henry IV. (who married Hereford's co-heiress), by Henry V., who gave the town two more fairs, and by the Stafford family, to which the castle and lordship were allotted on the partition of the Bohun estates in 1421. Henry Stafford, 2nd duke of Buckingham, resided a good deal at the castle, and Morton, bishop of Ely, whose custody as a prisoner was entrusted to him, plotted with him there for the dethronement of Richard III., for which Stafford was executed in 1483. His son, Edward, the 3rd duke, who was born in the castle in 1478, had the estates restored to him, but, in 1521, suffered a like fate with his father, and the lordship and castle then vested in the crown. Both were acquired in the next century by the ancestors of Viscount Tredegar, to whom they now belong. By a statute of 1535 Brecon was made the county town of the new shire of Brecknock, and was granted the right of electing one burgess to represent it in parliament, a right which it retained till it was merged in the county representation in 1885. A chancery and exchequer for the counties of Brecknock and Radnor were also established at Brecon Castle, and from 1542 till 1830 the great sessions, and since then the assizes, and at all times the quarter sessions for the county, have been held at Brecon. The borough had also a separate court of quarter sessions till 1835. The town was incorporated by a charter granted by Philip and Mary in 1556 and confirmed by Elizabeth in the nineteenth year of her reign. A charter granted by James II. was never acted upon. The borough was placed under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, and until then the town of Llywel, which is 10 m. off, formed a ward of the borough. There were formerly five trade gilds in the town, the chief industries being cloth and leather manufactures. There are five ancient fairs for stock, and formerly each of them was preceded by a leather fair. The fairs held in May and November were also for hiring, much of the hiring being now done at the Guildhall, and not in the streets as used to be the case.

During the Civil War the greater part of the castle and of the town walls (which with their four gates were until then well preserved) were demolished by the inhabitants in order to prevent the town being either garrisoned or besieged. Charles I., however, stayed a night at the priory house shortly after the battle of Naseby. The chief ruins of the castle are now enclosed in the grounds of the Castle Hotel, the principal object being Ely tower, where Bishop Morton was imprisoned.

Besides those already mentioned the persons of note born in the town include Henry Stafford, duke of Buckingham; Dr Hugh Price, founder of Jesus College, Oxford; Dr Thomas Coke, the first Wesleyan missionary bishop in America; and Theophilus Jones, the historian of the county. Henry Vaughan, the Silurist, at one time practised here as a doctor of medicine. (D. Ll. T.)

BRECONSHIRE, or BRECKNOCKSHIRE, an inland county in South Wales, and the fourth largest in all Wales, bounded N.W. by Cardigan, N. and N.E. by Radnor, E. and S.E. by Monmouth, S. by Glamorgan and W. by Carmarthen. The general aspect of the county is mountainous, and the scenery is marked by beauty and grandeur. The climate is moist but temperate and healthy, and the soil of the valleys, often consisting of rich alluvial deposits, is very fertile. The loftiest mountains in South Wales, extending from Herefordshire and Monmouthshire (where their eastern spurs form the Hatteral Hills) in a south-easterly direction into Carmarthenshire, completely encircle the county on the east and south except for the break formed by the Vale of Usk at Crickhowell. Their highest summit north of the Usk, on the eastern side, where they are known as the Black Mountains, or sometimes the Black Forest Mountains, is Pen y Gader (2624 ft.) between Talgarth and Llanthony, and on the south-west the twin peaks of the Mynydd Du ("Black Mountain") or the so-called Carmarthenshire Vans or Beacons, only the higher of which, Fan Brycheiniog (2632 ft.), is, however, in Breconshire; while the centre of the crescent is occupied by the masses of the Brecknockshire Beacons or Vans (often called the Beacons simply), the highest point of which, Pen y Fan, formerly also known as Cadair Arthur, or Arthur's Chair, attains an altitude of 2910 ft. In the north, a range of barren hills, which goes by the general designation of Mynydd Eppynt (a name more properly limited to its central portion), stretches right across the county in a north-easterly direction, beginning with Mynydd Bwlch-y-Groes on the boundary to the east of Llandovery, and terminating near Builth. In the dreary country still farther north there is a series of rounded hills covered with peat and mosses, the chief feature being Drygarn Fawr (2115 ft.) on the confines of Cardiganshire.

Of the valleys, the most distinguished for beauty is that of the Usk, stretching from east to west and dividing the county into two nearly equal portions. The Wye is the chief river, and forms the boundary between the county and Radnorshire on the north and north-east, from Rhayader to Hay, a distance of upwards of 20 m.; its tributary, the Elan, till it receives the Claerwen, and then the latter river, continue the boundary between the two counties on the north, while the Towy separates the county from Cardigan on the north-west. The hilly country to the north of the Eppynt is mainly drained by the Irfon, which falls into the Wye near Builth. The Usk rises in the Carmarthenshire Van on the west, and flowing in a direction nearly due east through the centre of the county, collects the water from the range of the Beacons in the south, and from the Eppynt range in the north by means of numerous smaller streams, of which the Tarell and the Honddu (which join it at Brecon) are the most important, and it enters Monmouthshire near Abergavenny. The Taff, the Nedd (with its tributaries the Hepste and the Mellte) and the Tawe, all rise on the south of the Beacon range and passing through Glamorganshire, flow into the Bristol Channel, the upper reaches of the Nedd and its tributaries in the Vale of Neath being deservedly famous for its scenery. The mountains of the county constitute one of the best water-producing areas in Wales. Recognizing this, the corporation of Birmingham, under an act of 1892, acquired the watershed of the Elan and Claerwen, and constructed on the Elan three impounding reservoirs whence the water is conducted through an aqueduct to Birmingham (q.v.). Swansea obtains its chief supply from a reservoir of one thousand million gallons constructed in 1898-1906 on the Cray, a tributary of the Usk. A large industrial area around Neath is supplied from Ystradfellte. Merthyr Tydfil draws its supply from the lesser Taff, while Cardiff's main supply comes from the Great Taff valley, where, under acts of 1884 and 1894, two reservoirs with a capacity of 668 million gallons have been constructed and a third authorized.

In the east of the county, at the foot of the Black Forest Mountains, is Llyn Safaddan, or Brecknock Mere, now more generally known as Llangorse Lake (from being partly situated in the parish of that name). It is about 3 m. long by 1 m. broad, being the largest lake in South Wales. Upon an artificial island in the lake traces of lake-dwellings were discovered in 1869, together with the bones of red deer, wild boar and _Bos longifrons_.

_Geology._--The oldest rocks in Brecknockshire are the Llandeilo shales and intrusive diabases of pre-Llandovery age which near Builth extend across the Wye from Radnorshire; another patch with volcanic outflows comes up at Llanwrtyd, and at both places they give rise to mineral springs. Next follow the Bala Beds, which, with the succeeding Lower and Upper Llandovery shales, sandstones and conglomerates, form the sparsely populated sheepwalks and valleys which occupy most of the north-western part of the county. These rocks are much folded and the shales are locally cleaved into slates, while the sandstones and conglomerates form scarps and ridges. To the south-east of this region a narrow outcrop of Upper Llandovery, Wenlock and Ludlow sandstones and mudstones follows, uncomformably overlying the Llandeilo and Bala rocks, and dipping conformably under the Old Red Sandstone; they extend from Newbridge-on-Wye and Builth through Llangammarch (where there are mineral springs) towards Llandovery, while a tongue of Ludlow rocks brought up by faulting extends from Erwood on the Wye for 8 m. south-westwards into the Old Red Sandstone. The remainder and greater part of the county is occupied chiefly by the gently inclined Old Red Sandstone; in the dissected plateau of the Black Mountains north of Crickhowell the lower marls and cornstones are laid open, while south of Brecon the conglomeratic upper beds form the escarpment and plateaus of the Beacons. The southern edge of the county is formed by the scarps and moorlands of the Carboniferous Limestone and Millstone Grit (both of which form also the outlier of Pen-ceryg-calch north of Crickhowell), while the lowest beds of the Coal Measures of the South Wales coalfield are reached in the Tawe and Neath valleys (where the beds are much folded) and near Tredegar and Brynmawr. Glacial deposits spread over the lower grounds and striae occur at great heights on the Black Mountains.

_Industries._--Agriculture is the chief industry, and the Agricultural Society of the county, dating from 1755, is the oldest in Wales. About one-fourth only of the area of the county is under cultivation, and the chief crops grown are wheat and barley, but above all, turnips and oats. The acreage devoted to any other crop is practically infinitesimal, though in the eastern part more attention is paid to fruit-growing than perhaps in any other part of South Wales. The farming is, however, chiefly pastoral, nearly one-third of the county is common or waste land, and its number of sheep (mainly of the Radnor Forest breed) far exceeds that of any other county in Wales. The breeding of cobs and ponies comes next in importance, and thirdly that of cattle, now mostly Herefords, though Speed mentions a native breed, long since extinct, all white with red ears. These, together with pigs, wool, butter, and (in small quantities) cheese, form the staple of a considerable trade with the Midlands and the industrial districts to the south and southwest. The farms are of comparatively small size, the average cultivated area of the holdings in 1894 being 63 acres, and the hired labour averages about two men for each farm. A large share of the work, especially on the highland farms, is done by the occupiers and members of their own families, with the aid, where required, of an indoor servant or two. Few hands are employed in manufactures, but the mining industry is more important, coal being extensively worked--chiefly anthracite in the upper reaches of the Swansea and Neath valleys, and bituminous in the south-eastern corner of the county. There are also limestone and fireclay, firebrick and cement works, chiefly on the northern outcrop of the carboniferous limestone, as at Abernant in the Vale of Neath and at Penwyllt.

The Central Wales section of the London & North-Western railway from Craven Arms to Swansea crosses the north-west corner of the county, and is intersected at Builth Road by a branch of the Cambrian, which, running for the most part on the Radnorshire side of the Wye, follows that river from Rhayader to Three Cocks; the Midland railway from Hereford to Swansea runs through the centre of the county, effecting junctions at Three Cocks with the Cambrian, at Talyllyn with the Brecon & Merthyr railway (which connects the county with the industrial areas of East Glamorgan and West Monmouthshire), and at Capel Colbren with the Neath and Brecon line. The North-Western and Rhymney joint line skirts the south-eastern boundary of the county. Brecon is also connected with Newport by means of the Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal, which was completed in 1801 and is 35 m. in length. The Swansea Canal and that of the Vale of Neath have also their northern terminal within the county, at Ystradgynlais and Abernant respectively. The main roads of the county are probably the best in South Wales.

_Population and Administration._--The area of the ancient county is 475,224 acres, with a population in 1891 of 57,031 and in 1901 of 59,907. The area of the administrative county is 469,301 acres. The only municipal borough is Brecon, which is the county town, and had in 1901 a population of 5741. The other urban districts are Brynmawr, Builth Wells and Hay, with populations of 6833, of 1805 and of 1680 respectively in 1901. Crickhowell and Talgarth are market towns, while Llanwrtyd Wells is a rapidly developing health resort. The county forms part of the South Wales circuit, and the assizes are held at Brecon. It had one court of quarter sessions, and is divided into ten petty sessional divisions. The borough of Brecon has a separate commission of the peace, but no separate court of quarter sessions. There are 94 civil parishes, while the ecclesiastical parishes or districts wholly or in part within the county number 70, of which 67 are in the diocese of St David's and the archdeaconry of Brecon, the remaining 3 being in the diocese of Llandaff. The county is not divided for parliamentary purposes, and returns one member to parliament. It contains a small part of the parliamentary borough of Merthyr Tydfil.

In the eastern parts and along the Wye valley, English has become the predominant language, but in the rest of the county, especially north of the Eppynt range, Welsh occupies that position. In 1901 about 51% of the population above three years could speak both English and Welsh, 38% could speak English only and 11% Welsh only. The majority of the population is Nonconformist in religion, the chief denominations being the Baptists, Calvinistic Methodists and Congregationalists. Besides an endowed grammar-school (Christ College) at Brecon, there are in the county four secondary schools, established under the Welsh Intermediate Education Act 1899, viz. separate schools for boys and girls at Brecon, and dual schools at Builth and Brynmawr. Most of the county institutions are in the town of Brecon, but the joint asylum for the counties of Brecon and Radnor is at Talgarth. It was opened in February 1903. At Trevecca, near the same town, was a theological college for ministerial students attached to the Calvinistic Methodist body, but in October 1906 the institution was removed to Aberystwyth, and the buildings have since been utilized for a preparatory school belonging to the same body.

_History._--There are no traces or record of Breconshire being inhabited before the Neolithic period, but to that period may be ascribed a number of cairns, menhirs and one cromlech (near Glanusk). In Roman times the eastern half of the county formed part of the territory of the Silures, a pre-Celtic race, whose governing class at that time probably consisted of Brythonic Celts. But an earlier wave of Celtic invasion represented by the Goidels had passed westwards along the valleys of the Usk and Wye, leaving traces in place-names (_e.g. llwch_, lake), and in the Ogham inscribed stones found at Glanusk, Trallwng and Trecastle, and probably surviving into historic times around the Beacon range and farther south even to Gower and Kidwelly. The conquest of the district by the Romans was effected between about A.D. 75 and 80, and they established a frontier fort (which some have called Caer Bannau, identifying it as Bannium) some 3 m. out of the present town of Brecon, with smaller stations on roads leading thereto at Y Gaer near Crickhowell, and at Capel Colbren in the direction of Neath. On the departure of the Romans, the Goidelic hill-tribes, probably with help from Gower and Ireland, seem to have regained possession of the Usk valley under the leadership of a chieftain of their own race, Brychan, who became the ancestor of one of the three chief tribes of hereditary Welsh saints. His territory (named after him Brycheiniog, whence Brecknock) lay wholly east of the Eppynt range, for the lordship of Buallt, corresponding to the modern hundred of Builth, to the west, remained independent, probably till the Norman invasion. Most of the older churches of central Brecknockshire and east Carmarthenshire were founded by or dedicated to members of Brychan's family.

From the middle of the 8th century to the 10th, Brycheiniog proper often bore the brunt of Mercian attacks, and many of the castles on its eastern border had their origin in that period. Subsequently, when Bernard de Newmarch and his Norman followers obtained possession of the country in the last quarter of the 11th century, these were converted into regular fortresses. Bernard himself initiated this policy by building a castle at Talgarth on the Upper Wye, but in 1091 he moved southwards, defeated the regulus of Brycheiniog, Bleddyn ab Maenarch, and his brother-in-law Rhys ap Tewdwr, the prince of south-west Wales, and with materials obtained from the Roman fort of Caer Bannau, built a castle at Brecon, which he made his _caput baroniae_. Brycheiniog was then converted into a lordship marcher and passed to the Fitzwalter, de Breos, the Bohun and the Stafford families in succession, remaining unaffected by the Statute of Rhuddlan (1282), as it formed part of the marches, and not of the principality of Wales.

The Irfon valley, near Builth, was, however, the scene of the last struggle between the English and Llewelyn, who in 1282 fell in a petty skirmish in that district. The old spirit of independence flickered once again when Owen Glendower marched to Brecon in 1403. Upon the attainder of Edward, duke of Buckingham, in 1521, the lordship of Brecon with its dependencies became vested in the crown. In 1536 it was grouped with a whole series of petty lordships marcher and the lordship of Builth to form the county of Brecknock with Brecon as the county town, and the place for holding the county court. The county returns one member to parliament, and has done so since 1536; the borough of Brecon, with the town of Llywel, had also a separate representative from the same date till 1885, when it became merged in the county.

BREDA, a fortified town in the province of North Brabant, Holland, at the confluence of the canalized rivers Merk and Aa, 15 m. by rail E.N.E. of Roozendaal. Pop. (1900) 26,296. It is connected by steam tramway with Antwerp (30 m. S.S.W.), and with Geertruidenberg in the north, and the island of Duiveland on the west. The fortress of Breda, which was once considered impregnable, has been dismantled, but the town is still protected by extensive lines of fortification and lies in the midst of a district which can be readily laid under water. It has a fine quay, town-hall and park. There are several Roman Catholic and Protestant churches. The principal Protestant church is a Gothic building dating from the end of the 13th century, with a fine tower, and a choir of later date (1410). Among the many interesting monuments is the imposing tomb of the stadtholder Count Engelbert II. of Nassau and his wife. This is the work of Tomasino Vincenz of Bologna, who, though a pupil of Raphael in painting, in sculpture followed Michelangelo, to whom the work is sometimes ascribed. Since 1828 Breda has been the seat of a royal military academy for all arms of the service. It also possesses a Latin school, an arsenal, and a modern prison built on the isolated-cell principle. The prison is in the form of a rotunda, 58 yds. in diameter, and covered by a high dome. In the middle is the office of the administration, and on the top of this a small watch-tower. Round the walls of the rotunda are the cells, 208 in number, and arranged in four tiers with balconies reached by iron staircases. Each cell measures 35 cub. yds., is provided with an electric bell communicating with the warder in the tower, heated by hot-air pipes, and lighted by day through a window on the outer wall of the rotunda, and from sunset till ten o'clock by electric light. The industries of Breda comprise the manufacture of linen and woollen goods, carpets, hats, beer and musical instruments. In the neighbourhood of the town are the villages of Ginneken and Prinsenhage, situated in the midst of pretty pine woods. They form favourite places of excursion, and in the woods at Ginneken is a Kneipp sanatorium.

_History._--Breda was in the 11th century a direct fief of the Holy Roman Empire, its earliest known lord being Henry I. (1098-1125), in whose family it continued, though, from the latter part of the 13th century, in the female line, until Alix, heiress of Philip (d. 1323), sold it to Brabant. In 1350 the fief was resold to John (Jan) of Polanen (d. 1377), the heiress of whose line, Joanna (d. 1445), married Engelbert of Nassau-Dillenburg (d. 1442). Henceforth it remained in the house of Nassau, passing ultimately to William I. (1533-1584), the first stadtholder of the Netherlands. Breda obtained municipal rights in 1252, but was first surrounded with walls in 1534 by Count Henry of Nassau, who also restored the old castle, originally built by John of Polanen in 1350. From this period until late in the 19th century it remained the most important of the line of fortresses along the Meuse. Breda was captured by surprise by the Spaniards in 1581; but in 1590 it fell again into the hands of Maurice of Nassau, 68 picked men contriving to get into the town concealed under the turf in a peat-boat. The so-called "Spaniard's Hole" still marks the spot where the peat-boat lay. Its surrender in 1625, after a ten months' siege, to the Spaniards under Spinola is the subject of the famous picture by Velasquez in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. In 1637 Breda was recaptured by Frederick Henry of Orange after a four months' siege, and in 1648 it was finally ceded to Holland by the treaty of Westphalia. During the wars of the French Revolution, it was taken by Dumouriez in 1793, evacuated soon after and retaken by Pichegru in 1795, after the whole of Holland had already succumbed to the French. In 1813, a sally being made by the French garrison on an advance-guard of the Russians under Benckendorff, the citizens of Breda again made themselves masters of the town.

Breda was the residence, during his exile, of Charles II., who, by the declaration of Breda (1660), made known the conditions of his acceptance of the crown of England. In 1696 William, prince of Orange and king of England, built the new castle, one of the finest buildings of the period, which now serves as the military academy. Breda also derives some celebrity from the various political congresses of which it has been the scene. In 1575 a conference was held here between the ambassadors of Spain and those of the United Provinces; in 1667 a peace was signed between England, Holland, France and Denmark; and in 1746-1747 the representatives of the same powers met in the town to discuss the terms of another treaty.

BREDAEL, JAN FRANS VAN (1683-1750), Flemish painter, son of Alexander van Bredael (d. 1720), who was also an artist, was born in Antwerp. He imitated the style of Wouverman and Breughel with such dexterity that even connoisseurs are often unable to distinguish his copies of their pictures from the originals. He visited England, where he was so well employed that in a few years he was able to retire to his native country with a competency. The earl of Derwentwater was one of his chief patrons. There were several other van Bredaels, who won honour as artists--notably PIETER (1622-1719), Alexander's father, and JOZEF (1688-1739). They were formerly known as "Breda," but this apparently is incorrect, though it occurs as a signature on a picture by Jan Frans in the Amsterdam gallery.

BREDERODE, HENRY, COUNT OF (1531-1568), was born at Brussels in 1531. He was the descendant of an ancient race, which had for some centuries been settled in Holland, and had taken an active part in the affairs of war and peace. Count Henry became a convert to the Reformed faith and placed himself at the side of the prince of Orange and Count Egmont in resisting the introduction of the Spanish Inquisition and Spanish despotism into the Netherlands. In 1566 he was one of the founders of the confederacy of nobles who bound themselves to maintain the rights and liberties of the country by signing a document known as "the Compromise." On the 5th of April of that year Brederode accompanied to the palace a body of 250 confederates, of whom he acted as the spokesman, to present to the regent, Margaret of Parma, a petition setting forth their grievances, called "the Request." It was at a banquet at the Hotel Culemburg on the 8th of April, presided over by Brederode, that the sobriquet of _les Gueux_, or "the Beggars," was first given to the opponents of Spanish rule. Brederode was banished from the Netherlands by Alva, and died in exile shortly afterwards at the early age of thirty-six.

BREDOW, GOTTFRIED GABRIEL (1773-1814), German historian, was born at Berlin on the 14th of December 1773, and became successively professor at the universities of Helmstadt, Frankfort-on-Oder and Breslau. He died at Breslau on the 5th of September 1814. Bredow's principal works are _Handbuch der alien Geschichte, Geographic und Chronologie_ (Eutin, 1799; English trans., London, 1827); _Chronik des 19. Jahrhunderts_ (Altona, 1801); _Entwurf der Weltkunde der Alten_ (Altona, 1816); _Weltgeschichte in Tabellen_ (Altona, 1801; English trans, by J. Bell, London, 1820); _Grundriss einer Geschichte der merkwurdigsten Welthandel von 1796-1810_ (Hamburg, 1810).

Bredow's posthumous writings were edited by J.G. Kunisch (Breslau, 1823), who added a biography of the author.

BREDOW, a village of Germany, in the kingdom of Prussia, immediately north of Stettin, of which it forms a suburb. Here are the Vulcan iron-works and shipbuilding yards, where the liners "Deutschland" (1900), the "Kaiserin Augusta Victoria" (1906), and the "George Washington" (1908), the largest vessel (722 ft. long, 27,000 tons) in the German mercantile marine, were built; and also sugar, cement and other factories.

BREECH (common in early forms to Teutonic languages), a covering for the lower part of the body and legs. The Latin _braca_ or _bracca_ is a Celtic word, probably cognate with the Teutonic. The word in its proper meaning is used in the plural, and, strictly, is confined to a garment reaching to the knees only. The meaning of "the hinder part of the body" is later than, and derived from, its first meaning; this sense appears in the "breech" or hinder part of a gun. The word is also found in "breeches buoy," a sling life-saving apparatus, consisting of a support of canvas breeches. The "Breeches Bible," a name for the Geneva Bible of 1560, is so called because "breeches" is used for the aprons of fig-leaves made by Adam and Eve. On the stage the phrase a "breeches" part is used when a woman plays in male costume. "Breeching" is a strap passed round the breech of a harnessed horse and joined to the shafts to allow a vehicle to be backed.

BREEDS AND BREEDING. Breeds may be defined as domestic varieties of animals or plants which man has been able to bring into existence and to maintain in existence. The process of breeding includes all the modifying influences which man may bring to bear on a wild stock for the purpose, conscious or unconscious, of establishing and maintaining breeds. Charles Darwin's _Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication_ (1868) was the starting-point of exact knowledge on this subject; when it appeared, it contained not only the best collection of empirical facts, but the only rational theory of the facts. The first relations between man and domesticated animals and plants were due to unconscious or accidental selection of wild stocks that tolerated the vicinity of man and that were useful or attractive to him. The new conditions must have produced modifications in these stocks, whether these were caused by a survival in each generation of individuals with the power of response to the new environment, or were due to a conscious selection of individuals capable of such favourable response. The essence of the process, however, came to be a conscious selection in each generation of the best individuals, that is to say, of those individuals that seemed to man to be most adapted to his wants. The possibility of establishing a breed depended, therefore, in the first place on the natural variability of wild animals and plants, then on the variations induced in animals and plants under subjection to the new conditions brought about by man's interference, next on the extent to which these variations, natural or artificial, persisted through the series of generations, and finally on man's intelligence in altering or maintaining the conditions of the environment, and in selective mating. The theory of breeds and breeding depends, in fact, on knowledge of variation, of modification by the environment, and of heredity. Any attempt to give an account of what actually has been done by man in establishing breeds would be little more than an imperfect summary of Darwin's work. The articles HEREDITY, MENDELISM and VARIATION AND SELECTION show that what may be called the theoretical and experimental knowledge of variation and heredity is far in advance of the practical art of breeding. Even horticulturists, who have been much more successful than those who deal with animals, are still far from being able to predict the result of their selections and crossings. None the less it may be stated definitely that such prediction is already so nearly within the power of the practical breeder that it would be a waste of time to give a summary of the existing rule-of-thumb methods. The art of breeding is so immediately destined to become a science of breeding that existing knowledge and conceptions must be dismissed as of no more than historical interest. (P. C. M.)

BREEZE, (1) A current of air generally taken as somewhat less than a "wind," which in turn is less than a "gale." The term is particularly applied to the light wind blowing landwards by day, "sea-breeze," and the counter wind, blowing off the land at night, "land-breeze." The word appears in Fr. _brise_ (admitted by the Academy in 1762). The Span, _brisa_, Port. _briza_, and Ital. _brezza_ are used for a wind blowing from the north or north-east. According to Cotgrave, Rabelais uses _brize_ in the sense of _bise_, the name of a dry north or north-east wind prevalent in Switzerland and the bordering parts of France, Italy and Germany. The word is first used in English as applied to the cool sea-breeze blowing usually from the east or north-east in the West Indies and Atlantic sea-coast of Central America. It was then applied to sea-breezes from any quarter, and also to the land-breeze, and so to any light wind or current of air. (2) Fine ashes or cinders, the refuse of coal, coke and charcoal burning. This is probably from the O. Fr. _brese_, modern _braise_, a word connected with _braser_, whence Eng. _brazier_, a pan for burning coals, charcoal, &c.

BREGENZ (anc. _Brigantium_), the capital of the Austrian, province of Vorarlberg, as well as of the administrative district of Bregenz. In 1900 its population was 7595, German-speaking and Roman Catholic. It is situated at the south-east angle of the Lake of Constance, and, besides communications by water with the other towns on the shores of that lake, is connected by: rail with Feldkirch on the Arlberg line (24 m.) and with Munich. The old town is on a hillock, crowned by the ancient castle, while the new town is built on the level ground at the foot of the hill. The fine parish church (dedicated to St Gall) stands on another mound more to the south. In the local museum are collections of various kinds, especially of the Roman antiquities which have been dug up on the site of the old town. The position of the town on the lake has always made it an important port and commercial centre. Nowadays the main trade is in grain, but much is done also in cattle and in the products of the cotton-spinning factories of Vorarlberg.

We hear of counts of Bregenz as early as the 10th century, their heirs in the early 13th century being the counts of Montfort (a castle north of Feldkirch), who gradually acquired most of the surrounding country (including Feldkirch and Bludenz). But little by little the Habsburgers, counts of Tirol since 1363 bought from them most of their domains--first Feldkirch in 1375, next Bludenz and the Montafon valley in 1394, finally the county of Bregenz in two parts, acquired in 1451 and 1523. In 1408 the Appenzellers were defeated before Bregenz, while in 1647, during the Thirty Years' War, the town was sacked by the Swedes under Wrangel. (W. A. B. C.)

BREHON LAWS, the English but incorrect appellation of the ancient laws of Ireland, the proper name for which is _Feineachas_, meaning the laws of the Feine or Feini (fainyeh), who were the free Gaelic farmers. _Dlighthe Feine_ is another name for the laws, with the same meaning. Laws of universal application which could be administered only by duly qualified judges were called _Cain_ law, while minor laws administered by nobles and magistrates were called _Urradhus_ law. Regular courts and judges existed in Ireland from prehistoric times. The Anglo-Irish word "Brehon" is derived from the Gaelic word _Brethem_ (= judge).

The extant remains of these laws are manuscript transcripts from earlier copies made on vellum from the 8th to the 13th century, now preserved with other Gaelic manuscripts in Trinity College and the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, the British Museum, Oxford University, some private collections and several libraries on the continent of Europe. The largest and most important of these documents is the _Senchus Mor_ or "Great Old Law Book." No copy of it now existing is complete, and some portions are missing from all. What remains of it occupies the first, second, and a portion of the third of the volumes produced by the Brehon Law Commission, which was appointed in 1852.

In the _Annals of the Four Masters_ it is said: "The age of Christ 438, the tenth year of King Laeghaire (Lairy), the _Senchus Mor_ and _Feineachas_ of Ireland were purified and written." This entry has ample historical corroboration. Of many separate treatises dealing with special branches of the law, the _Book of Aicill_, composed of opinions or placita of King Cormac Mac Art, otherwise Cormac ua Quim, Ard-Rig of Erinn from A.D. 227 until 266, and Cennfaeladh the Learned, who lived in the first part of the 7th century, is the most important.

The text and earlier commentaries are in the _Bearla Feini_--the most archaic form of the Celtic or Gaelic language. From gradual changes in the living tongue through a long expanse of time many words, phrases and idioms in the _Bearla Feini_ became obsolete, and are so difficult to translate that the official translations are to some extent confessedly conjectural. In many cases only opening words of the original text remain. Wherever the text is whole, it is curt, elliptical, and yet rhythmical to a degree attainable only through long use. The rigorously authentic character of these laws, relating to, and dealing with, the actual realities of life, and with institutions and a state of society nowhere else revealed to the same extent, the extreme antiquity both of the provisions and of the language, and the meagreness of continental material illustrative of the same things, endow them with exceptional archaic, archaeological and philological interest.

In the earliest times all learned men, whether specially learned in law or not, appear to have acted as judges. Gradually as literature and learning increased, judgments delivered by men without special legal training fell into disfavour. In the 1st century of the Christian era, when Conchobhar or Conor Mac Nessa was king of Ulster, a crisis was reached, the result of which was that no man was allowed to act as Brehon until he had studied the full law course, which occupied twenty years, and had passed a rigorous public examination. The course of study for Brehon and Ollamh, advocate and law-agent respectively, is carefully laid down in the law itself. The Brehonship was not an office of state like that of the modern judge, but a profession in which success depended upon ability and judgment. The Brehon was an arbitrator, umpire, and expounder of the law, rather than a judge in the modern acceptation. It appears, without being expressly stated, that the facts of a case were investigated and ascertained by laymen, probably by the _Aireachtas_--a local assembly or jury--before submission to a Breton for legal decision. A Brehon whose decision was reversed upon appeal was liable to damages, loss of position and of free lands, if any, disgrace, and a consequent loss of his profession. No Brehon had any fixed territorial jurisdiction. A party initiating proceedings could select any Brehon he pleased, if there were more than one in his district. Every king or chief of sufficient territory retained an official Brehon, who was provided with free land for his maintenance. In ordinary cases the Brehon's fee was said to have been one-twelfth of the amount at stake.

Assemblies, national, provincial and local, were a marked characteristic of ancient Irish life. They all, without exception, discharged some legal functions, legislative or administrative, and even in those in which amusement predominated, the _Cain_ law was publicly rehearsed. Most of the assemblies were annual, some triennial, some lasted only a day or two, others a week and occasionally longer. All originated in pagan funeral or commemorative rites, and continued to be held, even in Christian times, in very ancient cemeteries. They were called by different names--_Feis, Aenach, Aireachtas, Dal, &c._

The Feis of Tara, in Meath, was from its origin seven centuries before Christ down to A.D. 560, mainly national and political, being convened by the Ard-Rig, held at his residence, presided over by him, and consisting of the provincial kings, tanists, flaiths, Brehons, warriors, historians, poets and other distinguished men from the whole of Ireland. It was due to be held every third year for the purpose of "preserving the laws and rules," and it might be called specially on any urgent occasion. After the statesmen had consulted, the laws were proclaimed, with any modifications agreed upon. Then the proceedings became festive, queens and great ladies taking part. The Feis of A.D. 560 was the last regular one held at Tara because the monarch ceased to reside there. One national assembly of an exceptional character was held at Tara in A.D. 697, by a decree of which women were emancipated from liability to military service.

The Aenach held annually at Tailltenn, also in Meath, was a general assembly of the people without restriction of rank, clan or country, and became the most celebrated for athletic sports, games and contests. Yet even here the laws were read aloud, and it is not without significance that the last national assembly held at Tailltenn under King Rhoderic O'Connor in 1168 was a political one.

The _Dal-Criche_ (= territorial assembly), held at Uisneach in Westmeath, was a gathering for political and quasi-legislative purposes. At one assembly there about a century before Christ, a uniform law of distraint for the whole of Ireland was adopted on the motion of Sen, son of Aige. This did not prevent the gatherings at Uisneach from being for ages celebrated for gaiety and amusement.

Each provincial kingdom and each tuath had assemblies of its own. Every _flaith_ and _flaith-fine_ was a member of a local assembly, the clan system conferring the qualification, and there being no other election.

An assembly when convened by the _Bruigh-fer_ for the special purpose of electing a tanist or successor to the king was called a _Tocomra_.

Very careful provision is made for the preparation of the sites of great assemblies, and the preservation of peace and order at them is sanctioned by the severest penalties of the law. The operation of every legal process calculated to occasion friction, such as seizure of property, was suspended during the time the assemblies lasted.

The term _Rig_ (reeh = _rex_, king) was applied to four classes or grades of rulers, the lower grades being grouped, each group being subject to one of their number, and all being subject to, and owing tribute and allegiance to the Ard-Rig (= supreme king of Erinn). The Ard-Rig had an official residence at Tara and the kingdom of Meath for his special use. The provincial king, Rig Cuicidh, also had an official residence and kingdom of his own, together with allegiance and tribute from each Rig-mor-Tuatha in his province, who in his turn received tribute and allegiance from each Rig-Tuatha under subjection to him. The Rig-Tuatha received tribute and allegiance from the flaiths or nobles in his tuath. The tuath was the political unit, and the ruler of it was the lowest to whom the term "king" was applied. For each payment of tribute a king always made some return. Every king was obliged, on his inauguration, to swear that he would govern justly and according to law, to which he remained always subject. The Ard-Rig was selected by the sub-kings and other leading men who legally constituted the Feis of Tara, the sub-kings by those under them in their respective spheres. No person not of full age, imperfectly educated, stupid, blind, deaf, deformed or otherwise defective in mind or body, or for any reason whatsoever unfit to discharge the duties or unworthy to represent the manhood of the nation, could be king, even though he were the eldest son of the preceding king. "It is a forbidden thing for one with a blemish to be king at Tara."

_Tuath, Cinel_ and _Clann_ were synonyms meaning a small tribe or nation descended from a common ancestor. A king and clan being able, subject to certain limitations, to adopt new members or families, or amalgamate with another clan, the theory of common origin was not rigidly adhered to. Kinship with the clan was an essential qualification for holding any office or property. The rules of kinship largely determined status with its correlative rights and obligations, supplied the place of contract and of laws affecting the ownership, disposition and devolution of property, constituting the clan an organic, self-contained entity, a political, social and mutual insurance co-partnership. The solidarity of the clan was its most important and all-pervading characteristic. The entire territory occupied by a clan was the common and absolute property of that clan. Subject to this permanent and fundamental ownership, part of the land was set apart for the maintenance of the king as such. Warriors, statesmen, Brehons, Ollamhs, physicians, poets, and even eminent workers in the more important arts, were, in different degrees, rewarded with free lands for their respective public services. On the death of any person so rewarded, the land in theory reverted to the clan; but if like services continued to be rendered by the son or other successor, and accepted by the clan, the land was not withdrawn. The successors of statesmen, for whom the largest provision was made, became a permanent nobility. Flaith (flah = noble chief) was a term applied to a man of this rank. Rank, with the accompanying privileges, jurisdiction and responsibility, was based upon a qualification of kinship and of property, held by a family for a specified number of generations, together with certain concurrent conditions; and it could be lost by loss of property, crime, cowardice or other disgraceful conduct. The flaiths in every tuath and all ranks of society were organized on the same hierarchical pattern as royalty. A portion of land called the _Cumhal Senorba_ was devoted to the support of widows, orphans and old childless people.

_Fine_ (finna), originally meaning family, came in course of time to be applied to a group of kindred families or to a whole clan. From differences between incidental accounts written in different ages, it appears that the social system underwent some change. For the purpose of conveying some idea, one theory may be taken, according to which the _fine_ was made up of seventeen clansmen, with their families, viz. the _Geilfine_ consisting of the flaith-fine and four others in the same or nearest degree of kinship to the centre, and the _Deirbhfine, Tarfine_ and _Innfine_, each consisting of four heads of families, forming widening concentric circles of kinship to which the rights and liabilities of the _fine_ extended with certainty, but in diminishing degrees.

In course of time a large and increasing proportion of the good land became, under the titles so far described, limited private property. The area of arable land available for the common use of the clansmen was gradually diminished by these encroachments, but was still always substantial. A share of this was the birthright of every law-abiding member of the Feini who needed it. To satisfy this title and give a start in life to some young men who would otherwise have got none, this land was subject to _Gabhailcine_ (= clan-resumption), meaning that the clan resumed the whole area at intervals of a few years for a fresh distribution after some occupants had died, and young men by attaining manhood had become entitled. Hence the Anglo-Irish word _gavelkind_. Anciently this re-distribution extended throughout the clan at the same time. Later it extended only to the land of a _fine_, each _fine_ making its own distribution at its own time and in its own way as determined by the seventeen men above specified. In this distribution men might or might not receive again their former portions. In the latter case compensation was made for unexhausted improvements. This land could not be sold, nor even let except for a season in case of domestic necessity. The Feini who used it had no landlord and no rent to pay for this land, and could not be deprived of it except by the clan for a crime. They were subject only to public tributes and the ordinary obligations of free men. Presumably their homesteads were not on this land and were not subject to _Gabhailcine_. Neither were the unfenced and unappropriated common lands--waste, bog, forest and mountain--which all clansmen were free to use promiscuously at will.

There was hardly any selling and little letting of land in ancient times. Flaiths and other persons holding large areas let to clansmen, who then became _Ceiles_, not land, but the privilege of feeding upon land a number of cattle specified by agreement. Flaiths and Bo-aires also let cattle to a _ceile_ who had none or not enough, and this was the most prevalent practice. There were two distinct methods of letting and hiring--_saer_ (= free) and _daer_ (= base), the conditions being fundamentally different. The conditions of _saer_-tenure were largely settled by the law, were comparatively easy, did not require any security to be given, left the _ceile_ free within the limits of justice to end the connexion, left him competent in case of dispute to give evidence against that of the flaith, and did not impose any liability on the _fine_ of the _ceile_. By continued user of the same land for some years and discharge of the public obligations in respect of it in addition to the _ciss_ or payment as tenant, a _ceile_ became a sub-owner or permanent tenant and could not be evicted. There is no provision in these laws for evicting any one. For the hire of cattle a usual payment was one beast in seven per annum for seven years; after which the cattle that remained became the property of the hirer. A _saer-ceile_ on growing wealthy might become a _bo-aire_. _Daer-tenure_, whether of cattle or of the right to graze cattle upon land, was subject to a _ciss-ninsciss_ (= wearisome tribute), for the payment of which security had to be given. A man not in the enjoyment of full civil rights, if able to find security, could become a _daer-ceile_. A free clansman by becoming a _daer-ceile_ lowered his own status and that of his _fine_, became incompetent to give evidence against that of a flaith, and could not end the connexion until the end of the term except by a large payment. The members of his _fine_ were liable, in the degree of their relationship, to make good out of their own property any default in the payments. Hence this tenure could not be legally entered into by a free clansman without the permission of his fine. _Daer-ceiles_ were also exposed to casual burdens, like that of lodging and feeding soldiers when in their district. All payments were made in kind. When the particular kind was not specified by the law or by agreement, the payments were made according to convenience in horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, wool, butter, bacon, corn, vegetables, yarn, dye-plants, leather, cloth, articles of use or ornament, &c. As the clan system relaxed, and the fine lost its legal power of fixing the amounts of public tributes, which were similarly payable to the _flaith_, and neglected its duty of seeing that those tributes were duly applied, the _flaith_ became able to increase these tributes with little check, to confuse them with rent, to confuse jurisdiction with ownership, and to exalt himself at the expense of his fellow-clansmen. A _flaith_ by arranging that his tenants should make their payments at different periods of the year, secured a constant and copious supply without an inconvenient surplus.

People who did not belong to the clan and were not citizens were in a base condition and incompetent to appear in court in suit or defence except through a freeman. The _Bothach_ (= cottier) and the _Sen-cleithe_ (= old dependent) were people who, though living for successive generations attached to the families of flaiths, did not belong to the clan and had no rights of citizenship. _Fuidhirs_, or manual labourers without property, were the lowest section of the population. Some were born in this condition, some clansmen were depressed into it by crime, consequences of war or other misfortune; and strangers of a low class coming into the territory found their level in it. The _fuidhirs_ also were divided into _saer_ and _daer_; the former being free by industry and thrift to acquire some property, after which five of them could club together to acquire rights corresponding to those of one freeman. The _daer-fuidhirs_ were tramps, fugitives, captives, &c.

Fosterage, the custom of sending children to be reared and educated in the families of fellow-clansmen, was so prevalent, especially among the wealthy classes, and the laws governing it are so elaborate and occupied such a large space, that some mention of it here is inevitable. Beyond mention, there is little to be said, owing to the absence of general principles in an infinity of specific details, mostly domestic and apparently trivial. A child in fosterage was reared and educated suitably for the position it was destined to fill in life. There was fosterage for affection, for payment and for a literary education. Fosterage began when the child was a year old and ended when the marriageable age was reached, unless previously terminated by death or crime. Every fostered person was under an obligation to provide, if necessary, for the old age of foster-parents. The affection arising from this relationship was usually greater, and was regarded as more sacred than that of blood relationship.

The solidarity of clan and _fine_ in their respective spheres, the provisions of the system, the simple rural life, and the prevalence of barter and payments in kind, left comparatively little occasion for contracts between individuals. Consequently the rules relating to contract are not very numerous. They are, however, sufficiently solemn. No contract affecting land was valid unless made with the consent of the _fine_ and in the presence of the _Aire-Forgaill_. Contracts relating to other kinds of property are more numerous. When important or involving a considerable amount, they had to be made in the presence of a _flaith_ or magistrate. The _Aire-Coisring_ presided over most of the contracts of the common people. The parties to a contract should be free citizens, of full age, sound mind, free to contract or not, and under no legal disability. "The world would be in a state of confusion if express contracts were not binding." From the repeated correlative dicta that "nothing is due without deserving," and that a thing done "for God's sake," i.e. gratis, imposed little obligation, it is clear that the importance of valuable consideration was fully recognized. So also was the importance of time. "To be asleep avails no one"; "Sloth takes away a man's welfare." Contracts made by the following persons were invalid: (1) a servant without his master's authority; (2) a monk without authority from his abbot or manager of temporalities; (3) a son subject to his father without the father's authority; (4) an infant, lunatic, or "one who had not the full vigilance of reason"; (5) a wife in relation to her husband's property without his authority. She was free to hold and deal with property of her own and bind it by contract. If a son living with his father entered into a contract with his father's knowledge, the father was held to have ratified the contract unless he promptly repudiated it. "One is held to adopt what he does not repudiate after knowledge, having the power." Contract of sale or barter with warranty could be dissolved for fraud, provided action was taken within a limited time after the fraud had become known. Treaties and occasional very important contracts were made "blood-covenants" and inviolable by drawing a drop of blood from the little finger of each of the contracting parties, blending this with water, and both drinking the mixture out of the same cup. The forms of legal evidence were pledges, documents, witnesses and oaths. In cases of special importance the pledges were human beings, "hostage sureties." These were treated as in their own homes according to the rank to which they belonged, and were discharged on the performance of the contract. If the contract was broken, they became prisoners and might be fettered or made to work as slaves until the obligation was satisfied. Authentic documents were considered good evidence. A witness was in all cases important, and in some essential to the validity of a contract. His status affected the force of the contract as well as the value of his evidence; and the laws appear to imply that by becoming a witness, a man incurred liabilities as a surety. The pre-Christian oath might be by one or more of the elements, powers or phenomena of nature, as the sun, moon, water, night, day, sea, land. The Christian oath might be on a copy of the Gospels, a saint's crozier, relic or other holy thing.

These laws recognized crime, but in the same calm and deliberate way in which they recognized contract and other things seriously affecting the people. Although we find in the poems of Dubhthach, written in the 5th century and prefixed to the _Senchus Mor_, the sentences, "Let every one die who kills a human being," and "Every living person that inflicts death shall suffer death," capital punishment did not prevail in Ireland before or after. The laws uniformly discountenanced revenge, retaliation, the punishment of one crime by another, and permitted capital punishment only in the last resort and in ultimate default of every other form of redress. They contain elaborate provision for dealing with crime, but the standpoint from which it is regarded and treated is essentially different from ours. The state, for all its elaborate structure, did not assume jurisdiction in relation to any crimes except political ones, such as treason or the disturbance of a large assembly. For these it inflicted the severest penalties known to the law--banishment, confiscation of property, death or putting out of eyes. A crime against the person, character or property of an individual or family was regarded as a thing for which reparation should be made, but the individual or family had to seek the reparation by a personal action. This differed from a civil action only in the terms employed and the elements used in calculating the amount of the reparation. The function of a judge in a criminal as in a civil action was to see that the facts, with modifying circumstances, were fully and truly submitted to him, and then by applying the law to these facts to ascertain and declare the amount of compensation that would make a legal adjustment. For this amount the guilty person, and in his default his kindred, became legally debtor, and the injured person or family became entitled to recover the amount like a civil debt by distraint, if not paid voluntarily. There were no police, sheriffs or public prisons. The decisions of the law were executed by the persons concerned, supported by a highly organized and disciplined public opinion springing from honour and interest and inherent in the solidarity of the clan. There is good reason to believe that the system was as effectual in the prevention and punishment of crime and in the redress of wrongs as any other human contrivance has ever been.

In calculating the amount of compensation the most characteristic and important element was _Einechlan_ (= honour-price, honour-value), a value attaching to every free person, varying in amount from one cow to thirty cows according to rank. It was the assessed value of _status_ or _caput_. It was frequently of consequence in relation to contracts and other clan affairs; but it emerges most clearly in connexion with crime. By the commission of crime, breach of contract, or other disgraceful or injurious conduct, Einechlan was diminished or destroyed, a _capitis diminutio_ occurred, apart from any other punishment. Though existing apart from fine, Einechlan was the first element in almost every fine. _Dire_ was the commonest word for fine, whether great or small. _Eric_ (= reparation, redemption) was the fine for "separating body from soul"; but the term was used in lighter cases also. In capital cases the word sometimes meant Einechlan, sometimes _coirp-dire_ (= body-fine), but most correctly the sum of these two. It may be taken that, subject to modifying circumstances, a person guilty of homicide had to pay (i) _coirp-dire_ for the destruction of life, irrespective of rank; (2) the honour-value of the victim; (3) his own honour-value if the deed was unintentional; and (4) double his own honour-value if committed with malice aforethought. The sum of these was in all cases heavy; heaviest when the parties were wealthy. The amount was recoverable as a debt from the criminal to the extent of his property, and in his default from the members of his _fine_ in sums determined by the degree of relationship; and it was distributable among the members of the _fine_ of a murdered person in the same proportions, like a distribution among the next of kin. The _fine_ of a murderer could free themselves from liability by giving up the murderer and his goods, or if he escaped, by giving up any goods he had left, depriving him of clanship, and lodging a pledge against his future misdeeds. In these circumstances the law held the criminal's life forfeit, and he might be slain or taken as a prisoner or slave. He could escape only by becoming a _daer-fuidhir_ in some distant territory. When the effect of a crime did not go beyond an individual, if that individual's _fine_ did not make good their claim while the criminal lived, it lapsed on his death. "The crime dies with the criminal." If an unknown stranger or person without property caught red-handed in the commission of a crime refused to submit to arrest, it was lawful to maim or slay him according to the magnitude of the attempted crime. "A person who came to inflict a wound on the body may be safely killed when unknown and without a name, and when there is no power to arrest him at the time of committing the trespass." For crimes against property the usual penalty, as in breach of contract, was generic restitution, the quantity, subject to modifying circumstances, being twice the amount taken or destroyed.

Distress of seizure of property being the universal mode of obtaining satisfaction, whether for crime, breach of contract, non-payment of debt, or any other cause, the law of distress came into operation as the solvent of almost every dispute. Hence it is the most extensive and important branch, if not more than a branch, of these ancient laws. Of several words meaning distress, _athgabail_ was the most frequently used. A person having a liquidated claim might either sue a debtor or proceed at his peril to seize without this preliminary. In the latter case the defendant could stop the progress of the seizure by paying the debt, giving a pledge, or demanding a trial; and he then could choose a Brehon. Distress was of two kinds--(1) _athgabal ar fut_ (= distress on length, i.e. with time, with delays); and (2) _athgabail tulla_ (= immediate distress). Which method was pursued depended partly upon the facts of the case and partly upon the respective ranks of the parties. A person entitled to seize property had to do it himself, accompanied, if the amount was large, by a law agent and witnesses. No man was entitled to seize unless he owned, or had a surety who owned, sufficient property for indemnity or adjustment in case the seizure should be found to have been wrongful. The formalities varied in different circumstances and also at different times in the long ages in which these laws prevailed. Some forms may, in the Irish as in other legal systems, have become merely ceremonial and fictitious.

_Tellach_ (= seizure of immovable property) was made in three periods or delays of ten days each (= 30 days). The first step was a notice that unless the debt was paid immediately seizure would be made. Ten days later, the plaintiff crossed the fence in upon the land, with a law agent, a witness and a pair of horses yoked or harnessed, and in a loud voice stated the amount of the debt and called upon the defendant to pay it according to law. On receiving no answer, or an unsatisfactory one, he withdrew. After an interval of ten days more, the creditor entered with his law agent, two witnesses and four horses, went farther in upon the land, repeated his demand, and if refused withdrew. Finally, after a further interval of ten days, he entered once more with his law agent, three witnesses and eight horses, drove up to the debtor's house, repeated his demand, and if not satisfied drove a herd of cattle or a flock of sheep in upon the farm and left men to care for them.

_Athgabail_ ordinarily meant the seizure of movable property. The following technical terms will indicate the procedure in distress with time:--_Aurfocre_ (= demand of payment, stating the amount in presence of witnesses); _apad_ (= delay); _athgabail_ (= the actual seizure); _anad_ (= delay after seizure, the thing remaining in the debtor's possession); _toxal_ (= the taking away of the thing seized); _fasc_ (= notice to the debtor of the amount due, the _mainder_ or pound in which the thing seized is impounded, and the name of the law agent); _dithim_ (= delay during which the thing is in pound); _lobad_ (= destruction or forfeiture of the debtor's ownership and substitution of the creditor's ownership). There was no sale, because sale for money was little known. The property in the thing seized, to the amount of the debt and expenses, became legally transferred from the debtor to the creditor, not all at once but in stages fixed by law. A creditor was not at liberty to seize household goods, farming utensils, or any goods the loss of which would prevent the debtor recovering from embarrassment, so long as there was other property which could be seized. A seizure could be made only between sunrise and sunset. "If a man who is sued evades justice, knowing the debt to be due of him, double the debt is payable by him and a fine of five seds." When a large debt was clearly due, and there was no property to seize, the debtor himself could be seized and compelled to work as a prisoner or slave until the debt was paid.

When a defendant was of rank superior to that of the plaintiff, distress had to be preceded by _troscad_ (= fasting). This is a legal process unknown elsewhere except in parts of India. The plaintiff having made his demand and waited a certain time without result, went and sat without food before the door of the defendant. To refuse to submit to fasting was considered indelibly disgraceful, and was one of the things which legally degraded a man by reducing or destroying his honour-value. The law said "he who does not give a pledge to fasting is an evader of all; he who disregards all things shall not be paid by God or man." If a plaintiff having duly fasted did not receive within a certain time the satisfaction of his claim, he was entitled to distrain as in the case of an ordinary defendant, and to seize double the amount that would have satisfied him in the first instance. If a person fasting in accordance with law died during or in consequence of the fast, the person fasted upon was held guilty of murder. Fasting could be stopped by paying the debt, giving a pledge, or submitting to the decision of a Brehon. A creditor fasting after a reasonable offer of settlement had been made to him forfeited his claim. "He who fasts notwithstanding the offer of what should be accorded to him, forfeits his legal right according to the decision of the Feini."

AUTHORITIES.--Since Sir Samuel Ferguson wrote his article on "Brehon Laws" in the 9th edition of this _Encyclopaedia_, much research has been done on the subject, and Ferguson's account is no longer accepted by scholars, either as regards the language or the substance of the laws. Pending the work of a second Brehon Law Commission, the Laws are best studied in the six imperfect volumes (_Ancient Laws of Ireland_, 1865-1901) produced by the first Commission (ignoring their long and worthless introductions), together with, Dr. Whitley Stokes's _Criticism_ (London, Nutt, 1903) of Atkinson's _Glossary_ (Dublin, 1901). The following are important references (kindly supplied by Dr Whitley Stokes) for detailed research:--R. Dareste, _Etudes d'histoire de droit_, pp. 356-381 (Paris, 1889); Arbois de Jubainville and Paul Collinet, _Etudes sur le droit celtique_ (2 vols., Paris, 1895); Joyce, _Social History of Ancient Ireland_, vol. i. pp. 168-214 (2 vols., London, 1903); _Zeitschrift fur celtische Philologie_, iv. 221, the Copenhagen fragments of the Laws (Halle, 1903); important letters in _The Academy_, Nos. 699, 700, 701, 702, 703, 704, 706, 707 (substantially covered by Stokes's _Criticism_); _Revue Celtique_, xxv. 344; _Erin_, i. 209-315 (collation by Kuno Meyer of the Law-tract Crith Gablach); Maine's _Early Hist, of Institutions_ (1875) and _Early Law and Custom_, pp. 162, 180 (1883); Hearn's _Aryan Household_ (1879), and Maclennan's _Studies in Ancient History_, pp. 453-507 (1876), contain interesting general reference, but the writers were not themselves original students of the laws. L. Ginnell's _Brehon Laws_ (1894) may also be consulted. See further the article CELT, sections _Language_ and _Literature_. (L. G.)

BREISACH, or ALTBREISACH, a town of Germany, in the grand duchy of Baden, on the left bank of the Rhine, standing on a basalt rock 250 ft. above the river, 10 m. W. of Freiburg-im-Breisgau, and on the railway connecting that city with Colmar. Pop. (1900) 3537. It has a fine minster, partly Romanesque, partly Gothic, dating from the 10th to the 15th centuries; of its two principal towers one is 13th century Gothic, the other Romanesque. The interior is remarkable for its rich decorations, especially the wood-carving of the high altar, and for many interesting tombs and pictures. There is little industry, but a considerable trade is done in wines and other agricultural produce. On the opposite bank of the Rhine, here crossed by a railway bridge, lies the little town of Neubreisach and the fort Mortier.

Breisach (_Brisiacum_), formerly an imperial city and until the middle of the 18th century one of the chief fortresses of the Empire, is of great antiquity. A stronghold of the _Sequani_ (a Gallic tribe, which occupied the country of the Doubs and Burgundy), it was captured in the time of Julius Caesar by Ariovistus and became known as the _Mons Brisiacus_. Fortified by the emperor Valentian in 369 to defend the Rhine against the Germans, it retained its position throughout the middle ages as one of the chief bulwarks of Germany and was called the "cushion and key (_Kissen und Schlussel_) of the German empire." Its importance was such that it gave its name to the district Breisgau, in which it is situated. In 939 it was taken by the emperor Otto I., and after remaining in the exclusive possession of the emperors for two centuries, was strengthened and shared for a while between them and the bishops of Basel. In 1254 and 1262 the bishops obtained full control over it; but in 1275 it was made an imperial city by King Rudolph I., and at the beginning of the 14th century his son brought it definitively into the possession of the Habsburg monarchs, leaving the bishops but few privileges. In the Thirty Years' War Breisach successfully resisted the Swedes, but after a memorable siege and a defence by General von Reisach, one of the most famous in military annals, it was forced to capitulate to Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar on the 18th of December 1638. The endeavours of the emperor Ferdinand III. to retake it were fruitless, and by the peace of Westphalia (1648) Breisach was annexed to France. By the peace of Ryswick (1697) it was restored to Austria, when Louis XIV. built the town and fortress of Neubreisach on the left bank of the Rhine. Again in 1703 it fell into the hands of the French, owing to treachery, but was ceded to Austria by the peace of Rastatt (1714)--Yet again, in the War of the Austrian Succession, it was captured (1744) by the French, who dismantled the fortifications. They refortified it in 1796, and after passing, by the peace of Luneville (1801), together with the Breisgau to the duke of Modena, Breisach was by the peace of Pressburg (1805) finally incorporated with Baden, when the fortifications were razed. During the Franco-German War (1870) Breisach suffered severely from bombardment directed against it from Neubreisach.

BREISGAU, a district of Germany, in the grand duchy of Baden. It extends along the right bank of the Rhine from Basel to Kehl, and includes the principal peaks of the southern Black Forest and the Freiburg valley. The Breisgau, originally a _pagus_ or _gau_ of the Frankish empire, was ruled during the middle ages by hereditary counts. Of these the earliest recorded is Birtilo (962-995), ancestor of the counts and dukes of Zahringen. On the death of Berchthold V. of Zahringen in 1218, his coheiresses brought parts of the Breisgau to the counts of Urach and Kyburg, while part went to the margraves of Baden. At the close of the 13th century the Kyburg part of the Breisgau passed to the Habsburgs, who in 1368 acquired also the town and countship of Freiburg, which had been sold by the counts of Urach to the Freiburgers and given in pledge by them to the house of Austria in exchange for a loan of the purchase price, which they were unable to repay. The male Urach line becoming extinct in 1457, an heiress carried what remained of their possessions in the Breisgau to the house of Baden. In the struggle between France and Austria from the 17th century onwards the Breisgau frequently changed masters. In 1801 Austria was forced to cede it to Ercole III., duke of Modena, in compensation for the duchy of which Napoleon had deprived him. His successor Ferdinand took the title of duke of Modena-Breisgau, but on his death in 1805 the Breisgau was divided between Baden and Wurttemberg. The latter ceded its portion to Baden in 1810.

See Stokvis, _Manuel d'histoire, &c._ (Leiden, 1890-1893).

BREISLAK, SCIPIONE (1748-1826), Italian geologist of German parentage, was born at Rome in 1748. He early distinguished himself as professor of mathematical and mechanical philosophy in the college of Ragusa; but after residing there for several years he returned to his native city, where he became a professor in the Collegio Nazareno, and began to form the fine mineralogical cabinet in that institution. His leisure was dedicated to geological researches in the papal states. His account of the aluminous district of Tolfa and adjacent hills, published in 1786, gained for him the notice of the king of Naples, who invited him to inspect the mines and similar works in that kingdom, and appointed him professor of mineralogy to the royal artillery. The vast works for the refining of sulphur in the volcanic district of Solfatara were erected under his direction. He afterwards made many journeys through the ancient Campania to illustrate its geology, and published in 1798 his _Topografia fisica della Campania_, which contains the results of much accurate observation. Breislak also published an essay on the physical condition of the seven hills of Rome, which he regarded as the remains of a local volcano,--an opinion shown to be erroneous by the later researches of G.B. Brocchi. The political convulsions of Italy in 1799 brought Breislak to Paris, where he remained until 1802, when, being appointed inspector of the saltpetre and powder manufactories near Milan, he removed to that city. The mineral Breislakite was named after him. He died on the 15th of February 1826. His other publications include:--_Introduzione alla geologia_ (1811, French ed. 1819); _Traite sur la structure exterieure du globe_, 3 vols. and atlas (Milan, 1818, 1822); _Descrizione geologica della provincia di Milano_ (1822).

BREITENFELD, a village of Germany in the kingdom of Saxony, 5-1/2 m. N.N.W. of Leipzig, noted in military history. The first battle of Breitenfeld was fought on the 17th of September 1631, between the allied Swedish and Saxon armies under Gustavus Adolphus and the imperial forces under Count Tilly. The battlefield is a low ridge running east and west between the villages of Gobschelwitz and Breitenfeld, the position of the Imperialists lying along the crest from Gobschelwitz on the right to a point about 1 m. short of Breitenfeld on the left; opposite this position, and behind a group of villages on the Loberbach stream, lay the Swedish forces, flanked on their left by the Saxon contingent under the elector, who was assisted by Arnim. The villages formed the only obstacle on the gentle slope lying between the Loberbach and Tilly's line; through these villages the Swedes defiled slowly, and formed up on the open ground beyond them. Tilly's army was drawn up in a continuous line, the infantry ranged in heavy battalions in the centre, the cavalry on the wings, and the heavy artillery in a mass in front of the infantry. Gustavus arrayed the Swedes in two lines and a reserve, infantry in the centre, cavalry on the flanks, and the Saxons were drawn up in a similar formation on the left of the Swedish left-wing cavalry. So far as can be gauged the respective numbers were at least 32,000 Imperialists, 22,000 Swedes and 15,000 Saxons. The Swedish infantry was drawn up on an entirely novel system; each brigade of infantry, composed of several battalions, was formed in many small and handy corps of pikemen and musketeers, and parties of musketeers were also detached to support the cavalry. The guns were scattered along the front. The Saxons were ranged, like Tilly's army, in heavy masses of foot and horse preceded by a great battery of guns. At 2 P.M. Pappenheim, commanding Tilly's left wing, led forward the whole of his cavalry in a furious charge. Feeling the fire of the musketeers who were intercalated amongst the Swedish horse, Pappenheim swung round to his left and charged the Swedish right wing in flank. The Swedes of both lines promptly wheeled up, and after a prolonged conflict the Imperial horse were driven completely off the field. The attack of Tilly's right wing under Furstenberg directed against the Saxons was more successful. The Saxons were at once broken and routed, only a handful under Arnim maintaining the ground. Furstenberg pursued the fugitives for many miles, and Tilly with the centre of infantry (which, considering the depth of its formations, must have possessed great manoeuvring power) rapidly followed him and formed up opposite the now exposed left of the Swedes. Thereupon the Swedes, in their light and handy formation, changed position rapidly and easily to meet him. Tilly's attack was strenuously opposed, and at this moment the decisive stroke of the battle was delivered by the Swedish right wing, which, having disposed of Pappenheim, swung round and occupied the ground originally held by the Imperial infantry, seized Tilly's guns, and with them enfiladed the enemy's new line. This put an end to the attack of the Imperial foot, and before sunset Tilly was in full retreat, hotly pursued and losing heavily in prisoners. His losses on the field have been estimated at 7000 killed and wounded and almost as many prisoners; the Swedes lost about 2000 and the Saxons over 4000 men.

The village of Breitenfeld also gives its name to another great battle in the Thirty Years' War (November 2, 1642), in which the Swedes under Torstensson defeated the Imperialists under the archduke Leopold and Prince Piccolomini, who were seeking to relieve Leipzig. The Swedish cavalry decided the day on this occasion also.

BREMEN, a free state in the German empire, bearing the title _Freie Hansestadt Bremen_. It falls into three distinct parts: (1) the largest portion, with the city of Bremen, lying on both banks, but chiefly on the right, of the lower course of the Weser, surrounded by the Prussian province of Hanover and the grand-duchy of Oldenburg, and consisting in the main of lowland country intersected by canals and dykes; (2) the town and district of Vegesack, lying separate from, but immediately north of the main portion, on the right bank of the river; (3) the port of Bremerhaven, 46 m. down the Weser, at its mouth. Of the whole territory, which has an area of 99 sq. m., about one-half is meadow and grazing land, one-quarter under tillage, and the remainder occupied by a little woodland, some unprofitable sandy wastes, the bed of the Weser and the towns. Market gardening, the rearing of cattle, for which the district is widely famed, and fishing, form the chief occupations of the rural population. The climate is mild, but the rainfall (26.9 in. annually on the average) is relatively considerable. The population is shown as follows:--

+-----------------+-----------+----------+ | | 1900 | 1905 | +-----------------+-----------+----------+ | Bremen, city | 186,822 | 214,953 | | Vegesack | 3,943 | 4,130 | | Bremerhaven | 20,315 | 24,159 | | Rural districts | 37,327 | 20,431 | +-----------------+-----------+----------+ | Total | 248,407 | 263,673 | +-----------------+-----------+----------+

Of the inhabitants, who belong to the Lower Saxon (_Nieder-Sachsen_) race and in daily intercourse mostly speak the Low German (_Plattdeutsch_) dialect, about two-thirds are natives of the state and one-third immigrants from other parts of Germany, chiefly from Hanover and Oldenburg. About 93% are Protestants, 6% Roman Catholics, and only 1/2% Jews. The form of government is that of a republic, under a constitution proclaimed on the 8th of March 1849, revised on the 21st of February 1854, the 17th of November 1875, and the 1st of January 1894. The sovereignty resides jointly in the senate and the Burgerschaft, or Convent of Burgesses. The senate, which is the executive power, is composed of sixteen life members, elected by the convent, on presentation by the senate. Of these ten at least must be lawyers and three merchants. Two of the number are nominated by their colleagues as burgomasters, who preside in succession for a year at a time and hold office four years, one retiring every two years. The Burgerschaft consists of 150 (formerly 300) representatives, chosen by the citizens for six years, and forms the legislative body. Fourteen members are elected by such citizens of Bremen (city) as have enjoyed a university education, forty by the merchants, twenty by the manufacturers and artisans, and forty-eight by the other citizens. Of the remaining representatives, twelve are furnished by Bremerhaven and Vegesack and sixteen by the rural districts. As a member of the German empire, the state of Bremen has one voice in the Bundesrat and returns one member to the Imperial diet (Reichstag). Formerly Bremen was a free port, but from the 1st of October 1888 the whole of the state, with the exception of two small free districts in Bremen and Bremerhaven respectively, joined the German customs union. The state has two Amtsgerichte (courts of first instance) at Bremen and Bremerhaven respectively, and a superior court, Landgericht, at Bremen, whence appeals lie to the Oberlandesgericht for the Hanseatic towns in Hamburg. The judges of the Bremen courts are appointed by a committee of members of the senate, the Burgerschaft and the bench of judges. By the convention with Prussia of the 27th of June 1867, the free state surrendered its right to furnish its own contingent to the army, the recruits being after that time drafted into the Hanseatic infantry regiment, forming a portion of the Prussian IX. army corps.

BREMEN, a city of Germany, capital of the free state of Bremen, and one of the Hanseatic towns. It lies on a sandy plain on both banks of the Weser, 46 m. from the North Sea and 71 m. S.W. from Hamburg by rail, on the mainline to Cologne. Pop. (1905) 214,953. It has also direct railway communication with Berlin via Uelzen, Hanover and Bremerhaven. The city consists of four quarters,--the old town (Altstadt) and its suburban extensions (Vorstadt) being on the right bank of the river, and the new town (Neustadt) with its southern suburb (Sudervorstadt) on the left bank. The river is crossed by three bridges, the old, the new (1872-1875) Kaiserbrucke, and the railway bridge, with a gangway for foot passengers. The ramparts of the old town have long been converted into beautiful promenades and gardens, the moats forming a chain of lakes.

The romantic old town, with its winding streets and lanes, flanked by massive gabled houses, dates from the medieval days of Hanseatic prosperity. On the market square stands the fine town hall (Rathaus), dating from the 15th century, with a handsome Renaissance _facade_ of a somewhat later date, and before it a stone statue of Roland, the emblem of civic power. Its celebrated underground wine cellar has been immortalized by Wilhelm Hauff in his _Phantasien im Bremer Ratskeller_. The town hall is internally richly embellished and has a gallery of interesting paintings. In an upper hall a model of an old Hanseatic frigate, with the device _Navigare necesse est, vivere non est necesse_, hangs from the ceiling. Among other ancient buildings, situated chiefly in the old town, are the following:--the cathedral of St Peter (formerly the archiepiscopal and now the Lutheran parish church), erected in the 12th century on the site of Charlemagne's wooden church, and famous for its Bleikeller, or lead vault, in which bodies can be preserved for a long time without suffering decomposition; the church of St Ansgarius, built about 1243, with a spire 400 ft. high; the church of Our Lady, dating from the 12th and 13th centuries; the 12th century Romanesque church of St Stephen; the Schutting, or merchants' hall, originally built in 1619 for the cloth-traders' gild; the Stadthaus (town house), formerly the archiepiscopal palace, and converted to its present uses only in 1819. The most important and imposing among the more modern architectural additions to the city are the handsome Gothic exchange, completed in 1867, the municipal theatre, the municipal library, the post office (1878), the law courts (1891-1895), the wool exchange, the German bank, the municipal museum for natural science, ethnology and commerce, and the fine railway station (1888). The principal memorials embrace, besides the Roland, the Willehad fountain (1883), the monument of the Franco-German War (erected 1875), the centaur fountain (1891), an equestrian statue of the emperor William I. (1893), and a statue of the poet Theodor Korner. A beautiful park, Burgerpark, has been laid out in the Burgerweide, or meadows, lying beyond the railway station to the north-east of the city. It is a peculiarity of the domestic accommodation of Bremen that the majority of the houses, unlike the custom in most other German towns, where flats prevail, are occupied by a single family only.

The industries and manufactures of Bremen are of considerable variety and extent, but are more particularly developed in such branches as are closely allied to navigation, such as shipbuilding, founding, engine-building and rope-making. Next in importance come those of tobacco, snuff, cigars, the making of cigar boxes, jute-spinning, distilling, sugar refining and the shelling of rice. Bremen owes its fame almost exclusively to its transmaritime trade, mainly imports. By the completion of the engineering works on the Weser in 1887-1899, whereby, among other improvements, the river was straightened and deepened, to 18 ft., large ocean-going vessels are able to steam right up to the city itself. It has excellent railway connexions with the chief industrial districts of Germany. Like Hamburg, it does predominantly a transit trade; it is especially important as the importer of raw products from America. In two articles, tobacco and rice, Bremen is the greatest market in the world; in cotton and indigo it takes the first place on the continent, and it is a serious rival of Hamburg and Antwerp in the import of wool and petroleum. The value of the total imports (both sea-borne and by river and rail) increased from L22,721,700 in 1883 to about L60,000,000 in 1905; the imports from the United States, from L9,755,000 in 1883 to about L25,000,000 in 1905. The countries from which imports principally come are the United States, England, Germany, Russia, the republics of South America, the Far East and Australia. The exports rose from a total of L26,096,500 in 1883 to L62,000,000 in 1905. The number of vessels which entered the ports of the free state (i.e. Bremen city, Bremerhaven and Vegesack) increased from 2869 of 1,258,529 aggregate tonnage in 1883, to 4024 of 2,716,633 tons in 1900. Bremen is the centre for some of the more important of the German shipping companies, especially of the North German Lloyd (founded in 1856), which, on the 1st of January 1905, possessed a fleet of 382 steamers of 693,892 tons, besides lighters and similar craft. Bremen also shares with Hamburg the position of being one of the two chief emigration ports of Germany. There are three docks, all to the north-west of the city--namely, the free harbour (which was opened in 1888), the winter harbour, and the timber and industrial harbour. Internal communication is served by an excellent system of electric tramways, and there is also a local steamboat service with neighbouring villages on the Weser.

_History._--According to Brandes, quoting Martin Luther in the _Lexicon Philologicum_, the name is derived from _Bram, Bram, i.e. hem_ = the river-bank, or confine of the land on which it was built. In 787 Bremen was chosen by St Willehad, whom Charlemagne had established as bishop in the _pagi_ of the lower Weser, as his see. In 848 the destruction of Hamburg by the Normans led to the transference of the archiepiscopal see of Hamburg to Bremen, which became the seat of the archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen. In 965 the emperor Otto I. granted to Archbishop Adaldag "in the place called Bremen" (_in loco Bremun nuncupato_) the right to establish a market, and the full administrative, fiscal and judicial powers of a count, no one but the bishop or his _advocatus_ being allowed to exercise authority in the city. This privilege, by which the archbishop was lord of the city and his _Vogt_ its judge, was frequently confirmed by subsequent emperors, ending under Frederick I. in 1158. Though, however, there is no direct evidence of the existence of any communal organization during this period, it is clear from the vigorous part taken by the burghers in the struggle of the emperor Frederick with Henry the Lion of Saxony that some such organization very early existed. Yet in the _privilegium_ granted to the townspeople by Frederick I. in 1186 the emperor had done no more than guarantee them their personal liberties. The earliest recognition of any civic organization they may have possessed they owed to Archbishop Hartwig II. (1184-1207), who had succeeded in uniting against him his chapter, the nobles and the citizens; and the first mention of the city council occurs in a charter of Archbishop Gerhard II. in 1225, though the _consules_ here named doubtless represented a considerably older institution. In the 13th century, however, whatever the civic organization of the townsfolk may have been, it was still strictly subordinate to the archbishop and his _Vogt_; the council could issue regulations only with the consent of the former, while in the judicial work of the latter, save in small questions of commercial dishonesty, its sole function was advisory. By the middle of the 14th century this situation was exactly reversed; the elected town council was the supreme legislative power in all criminal and civil causes, and in the court of the _advocatus_ two _Ratsmanner_ sat as assessors. The victory had been won over the archbishop; but a fresh peril had developed in the course of the 13th century in the growth of a patrician class, which, as in so many other cities, threatened to absorb all power into the hands of a close oligarchy. In 1304 the commonalty rose against the patricians and drove them from the city, and in the following year gained a victory over the exiles and their allies, the knights, which was long celebrated by an annual service of thanksgiving. This was the beginning of troubles that lasted intermittently throughout the century. Bremen had been admitted to the Hanseatic league in 1283, but was excluded in 1285, and not readmitted until 1358. Owing to the continued civic unrest it was again excluded in 1427, and only readmitted in 1433 when the old aristocratic constitution was definitively restored. But though in Bremen the efforts of the craftsmen's "arts" to secure a share of power had been held in check and the gilds never gained any importance, the city government did not, as at Cologne and elsewhere, develop into a close patrician oligarchy. Power was in the hands of the wealthy, but the avenues to power were open to those who knew how to acquire the necessary qualification. There was thus no artificial restraint put upon individual enterprise, and the question of the government having been settled, Bremen rapidly developed in wealth and influence.

The Reformation was introduced into Bremen in 1522 by Heinrich von Zutphen. Archbishop Christopher of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel (1487-1558), a brutal libertine, hated for his lusts and avarice, looked on the reforming movement as a revolt against himself. He succeeded in getting the reformer burned; but found himself involved in a life and death struggle with the city. In 1532 Bremen joined the league of Schmalkalden, and twice endured a siege by the imperial forces. In 1547 it was only saved by Mansfeld's victory at Drakenburg. Archbishop Christopher was succeeded in 1558 by his brother Georg, bishop of Minden (d. 1566), who, though he himself was instrumental in introducing the reformed model into his other diocese of Verden, is reckoned as the last Roman Catholic archbishop of Bremen. His successor, Henry III. (1550-1585), a son of Duke Francis I. of Lauenburg, who had been bishop of Osnabruck and Paderborn, was a Lutheran and married. Protestantism was not, however, definitively proclaimed as the state religion in Bremen until 1618. The last archbishop, Frederick II. (of Denmark), was deposed by the Swedes in 1644. In 1646 Bremen received the privileges of a free imperial city from the emperor Ferdinand III.; but Sweden, whose possession of the archbishopric was recognized two years later, refused to consent to this, and in 1666 attempted vainly to assert her claims over the city by arms--in the so-called Bremen War. When, however, in 1720 the elector of Hanover (George I. of Great Britain) acquired the archbishopric, he recognized Bremen as a free city. In 1803 this was again recognized and the territory of the city was even extended. In 1806 it was taken by the French, was subsequently annexed by Napoleon to his empire, and from 1810 to 1813 was the capital of the department of the Mouths of the Weser. Restored to independence by the congress of Vienna in 1815, it subsequently became a member of the German Confederation, and in 1867 joined the new North German Confederation, with which it was merged in the new German empire.

See Buchenau, _Die freie Hansestadt Bremen_ (3rd ed., Bremen, 1900, 5 vols.); _Bremisches Urkundenbuch_, edited by R. Ehmck and W. von Bippen (1863, fol.); W. von Bippen, _Geschichte der Stadt Bremen_ (Bremen, 1892-1898); F. Donandt, _Versuch einer Geschichte des bremischen Stadtrechts_ (Bremen, 1830, 2 vols.); _Bremisches Jahrbuch_ (historical, 19 vols., 1864-1900); and Karl Hegel, _Stadte und Gilden_, vol. ii. p. 461 (Leipzig, 1891).

BREMER, FREDRIKA (1801-1865), Swedish novelist, was born near Abo, in Finland, on the 17th of August 1801. Her father, a descendant of an old German family, a wealthy iron master and merchant, left Finland when Fredrika was three years old, and after a year's residence in Stockholm, purchased an estate at Arsta, about 20 m. from the capital. There, with occasional visits to Stockholm and to a neighbouring estate, which belonged for a time to her father, Fredrika passed her time till 1820. The education to which she and her sisters were subjected was unusually strict; Fredrika's health began to give way; and in 1821 the family set out for the south of France. They travelled slowly by way of Germany and Switzerland, and returned by Paris and the Netherlands. It was shortly after this time that Miss Bremer became acquainted with Schiller's works, which made a very deep impression on her. She had begun to write verses from the age of eight, and in 1828 she succeeded in finding a publisher for the first volume of her _Teckningar ur hvardagslifvet_ (1828), which at once attracted attention. The second volume (1831), containing one of her best tales, _Familjen H._, gave decisive evidence that a real novelist had been found in Sweden. The Swedish Academy awarded her their smaller gold medal, and she increased her reputation by _Presidentens dottrar_ (1834), _Grannarne_ (1837) and others. Her father had died in 1830, and her life was thereafter regulated in accordance with her own wishes and tastes. She lived for some years in Norway with a friend, after whose death she travelled in the autumn of 1849 to America, and after spending nearly two years there returned through England. The admirable translations (1846, &c.) of her works by Mary Howitt, which had been received with even greater eagerness in America and England than in Sweden, secured for her a warm and kindly reception. Her impressions of America, _Hemmen i nya verlden_, were published in 1853-1854, and at once translated into English. After her return Miss Bremer devoted herself to her scheme for the advancement and emancipation of women. Her views on these questions were expounded in her later novels--_Hertha_ (1856) and _Far och dotter_ (1858). Miss Bremer organized a society of ladies in Stockholm for the purpose of visiting the prisons, and during the cholera started a society, the object of which was the care of children left orphans by the epidemic. She devoted herself to other philanthropic and social schemes, and gradually abandoned her earlier simple and charming type of story for novels directed to the furtherance of her views. In these she was less successful. In 1856 she again travelled, and spent five years on the continent and in Palestine. Her reminiscences of these countries have all been translated into English. On her return she settled at Arsta, where, with the exception of a visit to Germany, she spent the remaining years of her life. She died on the 31st of December 1865.

See _Life, Letters and Posthumous Works of F. Bremer_, by her sister, Charlotte Bremer, translated by F. Milow, London, 1868. A selection of her works in 6 vols. appeared at Orebro, 1868-1872.

BREMERHAVEN, a seaport town of Germany, in the free state of Bremen, on the right bank and estuary of the Weser, at the confluence of the Geeste, 38 m. N. of the city of Bremen by rail. Pop. (1895) 18,366; (1905) 24,159. It is built on a tract of territory ceded to Bremen by Hanover in 1826, and further increased by treaty with Prussia in 1869. It forms practically a single town with Geestemunde (Prussia), which lies across the Geeste and with which it is connected by a drawbridge. The port was opened in 1830, and besides an excellent harbour, there are three large wet docks, including the Kaiserhafen, enlarged in 1897-1899 at a cost of L900,000. This, together with the north portion of the Neuerhafen, constitutes the free harbour. Here are the workshops and dry docks of the North German Lloyd steamship company. The whole internal harbour system is furnished with powerful hydraulic cranes and lines of railway running alongside the quays. The entrance to the port is free from ice nearly all the year round, is excellently buoyed, and lighted by two lightships and eight lighthouses, among the latter the remarkable Rothesand Leuchtturm, erected 1884-1885. The Hanoverian fort and batteries, which formerly protected the town, have been removed, and their place is supplied by four modern forts, with revolving turtleback turrets, lower down. The town possesses two Protestant and a Roman Catholic church, a technical institute, a natural history museum, a library, a theatre, a monument to the emperor William I. and one to Johann Smidt (1773-1859), the burgomaster of Bremen to whose enterprise the harbour of Bremerhaven is due. Shipbuilding and kindred industries are carried on.

BRENDAN, BRANDON, or BRANDAN (c. 484-578), Irish saint and hero of a legendary voyage in the Atlantic, is said to have been born at Tralee in Kerry in A.D. 484. The Irish form of his name is _Brennain_, the Latin _Brendanus_. Medieval historians usually call him Brendan of Clonfert, or Brendan son of Finnloga, to distinguish him from his contemporary, St Brendan of Birr (573). Little is known of the historical Brendan, who died in 578 as abbot of a Benedictine monastery which he had founded twenty years previously at Clonfert in eastern Galway. The story of his voyage across the Atlantic to the "Promised Land of the Saints," afterwards designated "St Brendan's Island,"[1] ranks among the most celebrated of the medieval sagas of western Europe. Its traditional date is 565-573. The legend is found, in prose or verse and with many variations, in Latin, French, English, Saxon, Flemish, Irish, Welsh, Breton and Scottish Gaelic. Although it does not occur in the writings of any Arabian geographer, several of its incidents--such as the landing on a whale in mistake for an island--belong also to Arabic folk-literature. Many of Brendan's fabulous adventures seem to be borrowed from the half-pagan Irish saga of Maelduin or Maeldune, and others belong also to Scandinavian mythology. The oldest extant version of the legend is the 11th century _Navigatio Brendani_.

St Brendan's island was long accepted as a reality by geographers. In a Venetian map dated 1367, in the anonymous Weimar map of 1424, and in B. Beccario's map of 1435, it is identified with Madeira. Columbus, in his journal for the 9th of August 1492, states that the inhabitants of Hierro, Gomera and Madeira had seen the island in the west; and Martin Behaim, in the globe he made at Nuremberg in the same year, places it west of the Canaries and near the equator. During the 16th century the progress of exploration in these latitudes compelled many cartographers to locate the island elsewhere; and it was marked about 100 m. west of Ireland, or afterwards among the West Indies. But in Spain and Portugal the older belief as to its situation was maintained. In 1526 an expedition under Fernando Alvarez left Grand Canary in search of St Brendan's island, which had again been reported as seen by many trustworthy witnesses. In 1570 an official inquiry was held, and a second expedition undertaken, by Fernando de Villalobos, governor of Palma. Similar voyages of discovery were made by the Canarians in 1604 and 1721; and only in 1759 was the apparition of St Brendan's island explained as an effect of mirage.

Among the numerous books which deal with the legend, the following are important: _Die altfranzosische Prosaubersetzung von Brendans Meerfahrt_, by C. Wahlund (Upsala, 1900); _La "Navigatio Sancti Brendani" in antico Veneziano_, by F. Novati (Bergamo, 1892); _Zur Brendanus-Legende_, &c., by G. Schirmer (Leipzig, 1888); _Les Voyages merveilleux de St. Brendan_, &c., by F. Michel (Paris, 1878); and _Acta Sancti Brendani.... Original Latin Documents connected with the Life of St Brendan_, by P.F. Moran (Dublin, 1872).

BRENHAM, a city and the county-seat of Washington county, Texas, U.S.A., situated in the S.E. part of the state, about 68 m. N.W. of Houston. Pop. (1890) 5209; (1900) 5968, including 2701 negroes and 531 foreign-born; (1910) 4718. Brenham is served by the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe (controlled by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe) and the Houston & Texas Central railways. It is the seat of Blinn Memorial College (German Methodist Episcopal), opened as "Mission Institute" in 1883, and renamed in 1889 in honour of the Rev. Christian Blinn, of New York, a liberal benefactor; of Brenham Evangelical Lutheran College, and of a German-American institute (1898). The municipality owns and operates the waterworks. The city is situated in an agricultural and cotton-raising region, and has cotton compresses and gins, cotton mills, cotton-seed oil refineries, foundries and machine shops, and furniture and wagon factories. Brenham was settled about 1844, was incorporated in 1866, and was chartered as a city in 1873.

BRENNER PASS, the lowest (4495 ft.) and one of the most frequented passes across the Alps in all ages, though the name itself rarely occurs in the middle ages, the route over it being said to lie through "the valley of Trent." It may be described as the great gate of Italy, and by it most of the Teutonic tribes made their way to Italy. One reason of its importance is that many side passes in the end join this great thoroughfare. It was crossed no fewer than 66 times by various emperors, between 793 and 1402. A carriage road was constructed over it as far back as 1772, while the railway over it was built in 1864-1867. From Innsbruck to the summit of the pass is a distance by rail of 25 m. The line then descends through the Eisack valley past Brixen (34 m.) to Botzen (24 m.). Thence it follows the valley of the Adige to Trent (35 m.) and on to Verona (56-1/2 m.)--in all 174-1/2 m. by rail from Innsbruck to Verona. (W. A. B. C.)

BRENNUS, the name, or perhaps the official title, of two chiefs of the Celtic Gauls.

(1) The first Brennus crossed the Apennines in 391 B.C., ravaged Etruria, and annihilated a Roman army of about 40,000 men on the Allia some 12 m. from Clusium (July 16, 390). Rome thus lay at his mercy, but he wasted time, and the Romans were able to occupy and provision the Capitol (though they had not sufficient forces to defend their walls) and to send their women and children to Veii. When on the third day the Gauls took possession, they found the city occupied only by those aged patricians who had held high office in the state. For a while the Gauls withheld their hands out of awe and reverence, but the ruder passions soon prevailed. The city was sacked and burnt; but the Capitol itself withstood a siege of more than six months, saved from surprise on one occasion only by the wakefulness of the sacred geese and the courage of Marcus Manlius. At last the Gauls consented to accept a ransom of a thousand pounds of gold. As it was being weighed out, the Roman tribune complained of some unfairness. Brennus at once threw his heavy sword into the scale; and when asked the meaning of the act, replied that it meant _Vae victis_ ("woe to the conquered"). The Gauls returned home with their plunder, leaving Rome in a condition from which she took long to recover. A later legend, probably an invention, represents M. Furius Camillus as suddenly appearing with an avenging army at the moment when the gold was being weighed, and defeating Brennus and all his host.

See null v. 33-49; Plutarch, _Camillus_, 17, 22, 28; Polybius i. 6, ii. 18; Dion. Halic. xiii. 7.

(2) The second Brennus is said to have been one of the leaders of an inroad made by the Gauls from the east of the Adriatic into Thrace and Macedonia (280), when they defeated and slew Ptolemy Ceraunus, then king of Macedonia. Whether Brennus took part in this first invasion or not is uncertain; but its success led him to urge his countrymen to a second expedition, when he marched with a large army through Macedonia and Thessaly until he reached Thermopylae. To this point the united forces of the northern Greeks--Athenians, Phocians, Boeotians and Aetolians--had fallen back; and here the Greeks a second time held their foreign invaders in check for many days, and a second time had their rear turned, owing to the treachery of some of the natives, by the same path which had been discovered to the Persians two hundred years before. Brennus and his Gauls marched on to Delphi, of whose sacred treasures they had heard much. But the little force which the Delphians and their neighbours had collected--about 4000 men--favoured by the strength of their position, made a successful defence. They rolled down rocks upon their enemies as they crowded into the defile, and showered missiles on them from above. A thunderstorm, with hail and intense cold, increased their confusion, and on Brennus himself being wounded they took to flight, pursued by the Greeks all the way back to Thermopylae. Brennus killed himself, "unable to endure the pain of his wounds," says Justin; more probably determined not to return home defeated.

See Justin xxiv. 6; Diod. Sic. xxii. 11; Pausanias x. 19-23; L. Contzen, _Die Wanderungen der Kelten_ (Leipzig, 1861).

BRENTANO, KLEMENS (1778-1842), German poet and novelist, was born at Ehrenbreitstein on the 8th of September 1778. His sister was the well-known Bettina von Arnim (q.v.), Goethe's correspondent. He studied at Jena, and afterwards resided at Heidelberg, Vienna and Berlin. In 1818, weary of his somewhat restless and unsettled life, he joined the Roman Catholic Church and withdrew to the monastery of Dulmen where he lived for some years in strict seclusion. The latter part of his life he spent in Regensburg, Frankfort and Munich, actively engaged in Catholic propaganda. He died at Aschaffenburg on the 28th of July 1842. Brentano, whose early writings were published under the pseudonym Maria, belonged to the Heidelberg group of German romantic writers, and his works are marked by excess of fantastic imagery and by abrupt, bizarre modes of expression. His first published writings were _Satiren und poetische Spiele_ (1800), and a romance _Godwi_ (1801-1802); of his dramas the best are _Ponce de Leon_ (1804), _Victoria_ (1817) and _Die Grundung Prags_ (1815). On the whole his finest work is the collection of _Romanzen vom Rosenkranz_ (published posthumously in 1852); his short stories, and more especially the charming _Geschichte vom braven Kasperl und dem schonen Annerl_ (1838), which has been translated into English, are still popular. Brentano also assisted Ludwig Achim von Arnim, his brother-in-law, in the collection of folk-songs forming _Des Knaben Wunderhorn_ (1806-1808).

Brentano's collected works, edited by his brother Christian, appeared at Frankfort in 9 vols. (1851-1855). Selections have been edited by J.B. Diel (1873), M. Koch (1892), and J. Dohmke (1893). See J.B. Diel and W. Kreiten, _Klemens Brentano_ (2 vols., 1877-1878), the introduction to Koch's edition, and R. Steig, _A. von Arnim und K. Brentano_ (1894).

BRENTANO, LUDWIG JOSEPH [called LUJO] (1844- ), German economist, a member of the same family as the preceding, was born at Aschaffenburg on the 18th of December 1844. He received some of his academical education in Dublin. In 1868 he made a thorough study of trade-unionism in England, which resulted in his principal work, _Die Arbeitergilden der Gegenwart_ (Leipzig, 1871-1872; Eng. trans, by L.T. Smith). The book was assailed by Bamberger and other economists, but is important not only as an authority on modern associations of workmen, but for having given an impetus to the study of the gilds of the middle ages, and the examination of the great stores of neglected information bearing upon the condition of the people in olden days. Brentano's other works are of a more theoretical character, and chiefly relate to political economy, of which he was professor at Breslau from 1872 to 1882, at Strassburg from 1882 to 1888, at Vienna 1888-1889, at Leipzig 1889-1891, and at Munich since 1891. We may mention _Das Arbeitsverhaltnis gemass dem heutigen Recht_ (1877); _Die christlich-soziale Bewegung in England_ (1883); _Uber das Verhaltnis von Arbeitslohn und Arbeitszeit zur Arbeitsleistung_ (1893); _Agrarpolitik_ (1897).

BRENTFORD, a market town in the Brentford parliamentary division of Middlesex, England, 10-1/2 m. W. of Waterloo terminus, London, by the London & South-Western railway, at the junction of the river Brent with the Thames. Pop. of urban district (1901) 15,171. The Grand Junction Canal joins the Brent, affording ample water-communications to the town, which has considerable industries in brewing, soap-making, saw-milling, market-gardening, &c. The Grand Junction waterworks are situated here. Brentford has been the county-town for elections since 1701.

In 1016 Brentford, or, as it was often called Braynford, was the scene of a great defeat inflicted on the Danes by Edmund Ironside. In 1280 a toll was granted by Edward I., who granted the town a market, for the construction of a bridge across the river, and in the reign of Henry VI. a hospital of the Nine Orders of Angels was founded near its western side. In 1642 a battle was fought here in which the royalists defeated the parliamentary forces. For his services on this occasion the Scotsman Ruthven, earl of Forth, was made earl of Brentford, a title afterwards conferred by William III. on Marshal Schomberg. Brentford was during the 16th and 17th centuries a favourite resort of London citizens; and its inn of the Three Pigeons, which was kept for a time by John Lowin, one of the first actors of Shakespeare's plays, is frequently alluded to by the dramatists of the period. Falstaff is disguised as the "Fat Woman of Brentford" in Shakespeare's _Merry Wives of Windsor_, and numerous other references to the town in literature point, in most cases, to its reputation for excessive dirt. The "two kings of Brentford" mentioned in Cowper's _Task_, and elsewhere, seem to owe their mythical existence to the play, _The Rehearsal_, by George Villiers, second duke of Buckingham, produced in 1671.

South of Brentford, towards Isleworth, is Sion House, a mansion founded by Lord Protector Somerset in 1547, and rebuilt and enlarged by the 10th earl of Northumberland and Sir Hugh Smithson, afterwards duke of Northumberland, the architects being Inigo Jones and Robert Adam. The gardens are very beautiful. The site of Sion or Syon House was previously occupied by a convent of Bridgetine nuns established at Twickenham by Henry V. in 1415 and removed here in 1431.

BRENTON, SIR JAHLEEL (1770-1844), British admiral, was born in Rhode Island, U.S.A., on the 22nd of August 1770. He was the son of Rear-Admiral Jahleel Brenton (1729-1802), who belonged to a loyalist family which suffered the loss of most of its property in the insurrection of the American colonies. He was a lieutenant in the British navy when the war began, and emigrated with his family to the mother country. Three of the sons entered the navy--Jahleel (the eldest), Captain Edward Pelham Brenton (1774-1839), and James Wallace Brenton, who was killed young in 1799 when attacking a Spanish privateer near Barcelona in the boats of the "Petrel," of which he was lieutenant. Jahleel went to sea first with his father in 1781, and on the return of peace was sent to the "maritime school" at Chelsea. He served in the peace before the beginning of the war in 1793, and passed his examination as lieutenant, but seeing no chance of employment went with other English naval officers to serve in the Swedish navy against the Russians. In 1790 he received his commission and returned home. Till 1799 he served as lieutenant, or acting commander, mostly under Earl St Vincent, and was present in the battle from which the admiral received his title. As commander of the "Speedy" brig he won much distinction in actions with Spanish gunboats in the Straits of Gibraltar. In 1800 he reached the rank of post-captain, and had the good fortune to serve as flag-captain to Sir James (afterwards Lord) Saumarez in the action at Algeciras, and in the Straits in 1801. During the peace of Amiens he married Miss Stewart, a lady belonging to a loyalist family of Nova Scotia. After the renewal of the war he commanded a succession of frigates. In 1803 he had the misfortune to be wrecked on the coast of France, and remained for a time in prison, where his wife joined him. Having been exchanged he was named to another ship. His most brilliant action was fought with a flotilla of Franco-Neapolitan vessels outside of Naples in May 1801. He was severely wounded, and Murat, then king of Naples, praised him effusively. He was made a baronet in 1812 and K.C.B. in 1815. After his recovery from his wound he was unable to bear sea service, but was made commissioner of the dockyard at Port Mahon, and then at the Cape, and was afterwards lieutenant-governor of Greenwich hospital till 1840. He reached flag rank in 1830. In his later years he took an active part in philanthropic work, in association with his brother, Captain E.P. Brenton, who had seen much service but is best remembered by his writings on naval and military history,--_Naval History of Great Britain from the Year 1783 to 1822_ (1823), and _The Life and Correspondence of John, Earl of St Vincent_ (1838).

A _Memoir of the Life and Services of Vice-Admiral Sir Jahleel Brenton_, based on his own papers, was published in 1846 by the Rev. Henry Raikes, and reissued by the admiral's son, Sir L.C.L. Brenton, in 1855. (D. H.)

BRENTWOOD, a market town in the mid or Chelmsford parliamentary division of Essex, England; 18 m. E.N.E. of London by the Great Eastern railway (Brentwood and Worley station). Pop. of urban district (1901) 4932. The neighbouring country is pleasantly undulating and well wooded. The church of St Thomas the Martyr, with several chapels, is modern. The old assize house, an Elizabethan structure, remains. A free grammar school was founded in 1557. The county asylum is in the vicinity. There are breweries and brick works. To the south lies the fine upland of Worley Common, with large barracks. Adjoining Brentwood to the north-east is Shenfield, with the church of St Mary the Virgin, Early English and later. Brentwood was formerly an important posting station on the main road to the eastern counties, which follows the line of the railway to Colchester. The name (_Burntwood_) is supposed to record an original settlement made in a clearing of the forest. The district is largely residential.

BRENZ, JOHANN (1499-1570), Lutheran divine, eldest son of Martin Brenz, was born at Weil, Wurttemberg, on the 24th of June 1499. In 1514 he entered the university of Heidelberg, where Oecolampadius was one of his teachers, and where in 1518 he heard Luther discuss. Ordained priest in 1520, and appointed preacher (1522) at Hall in Swabia, he gave himself to biblical exposition. He ceased to celebrate mass in 1523, and reorganized his church in 1524. Successful in resisting the peasant insurrection (1525), his fortunes were affected by the Schmalkaldic War. From Hall, when taken by the imperial forces, he fled on his birthday in 1548. Protected by Duke Ulrich of Wurttemberg, he was appointed (January 1553) provost of the collegiate church of Stuttgart. As organizer of the reformation in Wurttemberg he did much fruitful work. A strong advocate of Lutheran doctrine, and author of the _Syngramma Suevicum_ (October 21, 1525), which set forth Luther's doctrine of the Eucharist, he was free from the persecuting tendencies of the age. He is praised and quoted (as Joannes Witlingius) for his judgment against applying the death penalty to anabaptists or other heretics in the _De Haereticis, an sint persequendi_ (1554), issued by Sebastian Castellio under the pseudonym of Martinus Bellius. An incomplete edition of his works (largely expository) appeared at Tubingen, 1576-1590. Several of his sermons were reproduced in contemporary English versions. A volume of _Anecdota Brentiana_ was edited by Pressel in 1868. He died on the 11th of September 1570, and was buried in his church at Stuttgart; his grave was subsequently violated. He was twice married, and his eldest son, Johann Brenz, was appointed (1562) professor of theology in Tubingen at the early age of twenty-two.

See Hartmann and Jager, _Johann Brenz_ (1840-1842); Bossert, in Hauck's _Realencyklop_. (1897). (A. Go.*)

BREQUIGNY, LOUIS GEORGES OUDARD FEUDRIX DE (1714-1795), French scholar, was born at Gainneville near Havre, on the 22nd of February 1714, and died at Paris on the 3rd of July 1795. His first publications were anonymous: an _Histoire des revolutions de Genes jusqu'a la paix de 1748_ (1750), and a series of _Vies des orateurs grecs_ (1752). Elected a member of the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres in 1759, he contributed an _Histoire de Posthume empereur des Gaules_ (vol. xxx., 1760) to the collected works of that illustrious society, and also a _Memoire sur l'etablissement de la religion et de l'empire de Mahomet_ (vol. xxxii., 1761-1763). After the close of the Seven Years' War he was sent to search in the archives of England for documents bearing upon the history of France, more particularly upon that of the French provinces which once belonged to England. This mission (1764-1766) was very fruitful in results; Brequigny brought back from it copies of about 7000 documents, which are now in the Bibliotheque Nationale. A useful selection of these documents was published (unfortunately without adequate critical treatment) by Jean Jacques Champollion-Figeac, under the title _Lettres de rois, reines et autres personnages des cours de France et d'Angleterre, depuis Louis VII. jusqu'a Henri IV., tirees des archives de Londres par Brequigny_ (collection of _Documents inedits relatifs a l'histoire de France_, 2 vols., 1839, 1847). Brequigny himself drew the material for many important studies from the rich mine which he had thus exploited. These were included in the collection of the Academie des Inscriptions: _Memoire sur les differends entre la France et l'Angleterre sous le regne de Charles le Bel_ (vol. xli.); _Memoire sur la vie de Marie, reine de France, soeur de Henri VIII., roi d'Angleterre_ (vol. xlii.); four _Memoires pour senir a l'histoire de Calais_ (vols. xliii. and l.); and _Memoire sur les negotiations touchant les projets de mariage d'Elizabeth, reine d'Angleterre, d'abord avec le duc d'Anjou, ensuite avec le due d'Alencon, tons deux freres de Charles IX._ (vol. l.). This last was read to the Academy on the 22nd of January 1793, the morrow of Louis XVI.'s execution. Meanwhile, Brequigny had taken part in three great and erudite works. For the _Recueil des ordonnances des rois de France_ he had prepared volumes x.-xiv., the preface to vol. xi. containing important researches into the French communes. To the _Table chronologique des diplomes, chartes, lettres, et actes imprimes concernant l'histoire de France_ he contributed three volumes in collaboration with Mouchet (1769-1783). Charged with the supervision of a large collection of documents bearing on French history, analogous to Rymer's _Foedera_, he published the first volume (_Diplomatat. Chartae_, &c., 1791). The Revolution interrupted him in his collection of _Memoires concernant l'histoire, les sciences, les lettres, et les arts des Chinois_, begun in 1776 at the instance of the minister Bertin, when fifteen volumes had appeared.

See the note on Brequigny at the end of vol. i. of the _Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions_ (1808); the Introduction to vol. iv. of the _Table chronologique des diplomes_ (1836); Champollion-Figeac's preface to the _Lettres des rois et reines_; the _Comite des travaux historiques_, by X. Charmes, vol. i. _passim_; N. Oursel, _Nouvelle biographie normande_ (1886); and the _Catalogue des manuscrits des collections Duchesne et Brequigny_ (in the Bibliotheque Nationale), by Rene Poupardin (1905). (C. B.*)